Georgia, Tbilisi, July 26 /Trend, N. Kirtskhalia /
A Georgian delegation left for Geneva today to take part in the latest round of talks on conflict prevention in the South Caucasus. The delegation is headed by First Deputy Foreign Minister Giorgi Bokeria.
The talks will be held July 27.
The co-chairs of the Geneva talks - Pierre Morel (EU), Antti Turunen (U.N.) and Bulat Nurgaliyev (OSCE) - met with participants before the meeting to review the situation in the conflict zones. They urged all sides to resume meetings to prevent incidents in the South Ossetian conflict zone, which were suspended in October 2009.
The Georgian delegation expects little from the meeting, Bokeria told journalists at the Tbilisi airport before his departure.
"Moscow's policy, which aimed at breaking down the talks, causes pessimism," he said. "The separatists from Sukhumi and Tskhinvali suspended their participation in the talks after receiving instructions from Moscow, but later changed their minds."
Bokeria added that, "Tbilisi welcomes the separatists' change of mind, as any negotiation is better than a lack of dialogue."
"We are ready to negotiate on any topic if this will help to reduce tensions," he said.
Moscow, Sukhumi and Tskhinvali reiterated that they will ask Tbilisi to sign an agreement on the non-renewal of an armed conflict. Tbilisi will be asked to sign the agreement with Sukhumi and Tskhinvali, as opposed to Russia. Georgian officials are only prepared to sign the document with Moscow.