Special Representative of UN Secretary-General in Georgia met with Abkhazian leadership

Before her meeting with the Abkhazian leadership, Heidi Tagliavini met with new Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. He expressed readiness to continue the dialogue with Abkhazia, she said. Vice President of Abkhazia Valery Arshba noted that to continue the negotiation process and to achieve progress in it, the leadership of Georgia must abandon warlike rhetoric and promote the prevention of subversive and terrorist activity of the Georgian special services. "The Georgian party must meet the commitments undertaken by it in conformity with the signed documents. Only in this case there will be progress, and the parties will begin to trust each other," emphasized Valery Arshba. "The UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) is interested in the continuation of the talks on various very important questions," said Ms. Tagliavini.

Representatives of the Abkhazian leadership, in their turn, declared for the continuation of the talks between Georgia and Abkhazia and for the restart of all mechanisms of the Coordinating Council under the aegis of the United Nations. "A number of meetings between the Georgian and Abkhazian parties on the issues of security and elaboration of the mechanism of international security blankets are expected to be held in January 2004," Abkhazian President's aide Astamur Taniya, who participated in the meetings, said to journalists. A place for the holding of the Georgian-Abkhazian meetings has not been settled yet, he stressed.

Editors note: See also the article "Abkhazia's proposals on resumption of Georgian-Abkhazian settlement to be delivered to new Georgian president".