(RIA Novosti) - The president of Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region said Monday he was ready to meet with the Georgian president if they eventually signed an agreement on security guarantees.
"This meeting should result in a proper document, and should not be held just for the sake of a meeting, as this is not productive," Sergei Bagapsh said.
Abkhazia, in the northwest of Georgia, declared independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, leading to a bloody conflict in the Caucasus. Russia currently has peacekeeping troops stationed in the region, reports Trend.
In early May, at a meeting with a NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegation in the unrecognized republic's capital, Sukhumi, for talks on the future of Georgia-Abkhazia relations, Bagapsh said: "The bitter history of relations between Georgia and Abkhazia leaves no chance for the two countries' reunification in any legal framework."
Bagapsh said that, besides peaceful settlement of the conflict, he could also discuss with Mikheil Saakashvili issues concerning the lifting of a blockade on Abkhazia and the opening of air, naval and railway routes into the region.