Delegation of co-chairs of the Geneva discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia has arrived today in South Ossetia with a working visit. The delegation includes Philippe Lefort (EU), Antti Turunen (UN) and Padrig Murphy (OSCE). In Tskhinval, the co-chairs were received by Presidential Envoy on post-conflict settlement Boris Chochiev. The meeting was also attended by Minister for Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia Murat Dzhioev and Human Rights Ombudsman David Sanakoev.
During the meeting Boris Chochiev has point out largely productive nature of the Geneva format. "But soon we are expecting the 19th meeting of the Geneva talks and, in my opinion, we would have to work on concrete results. We should already feel approach of the final goal, for which the Geneva discussions were created - security of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, solution of refugee problems and other social issues. And we have not yet seen these results", - Chochiev has underlined. He has also mentioned the effective work of the Mechanisms on prevention and reaction to incidents (MPRI), established within the frames of the Geneva discussions. "Two years ago there were some glitches in the Mechanism activities, but now the work is adjusted, we can say, it is polished. I should also note another positive thing that happened recently - mutual transfer of detainees and convicted persons- within the frames of MPRI. This great achievement has been reached owing to the international observers, who persuaded the Georgian side in the need of this step. I hope this practice will be continued ", - the Plenipotentiary said. Chochiev has also noticed reduction of violations of the state border. He stressed the absurdity of Georgia's aspirations to issue the so-called "neutral passports." "Instead of working on the draft of future agreement on the nonuse of force against South Ossetia, they apply some artful, non-government approach. All this has negative effect on the format of the Geneva talks,"- Chochiev added. In turn, the EU co-chair of the discussions Philippe Lefort has noted the importance of continuing meetings of the Geneva discussions.
"We are the intermediaries between South Ossetia and Georgia, and we try to be honest intermediaries, that you should trust us. We hope that we`ll reach positive results both in security and stability, as well as in resolving the humanitarian issues. We hope that the next meeting in Geneva with the help of the South Ossetian side will be successful and constructive", - Lefort has underlined. He has added that it is urgent to continue efforts on searching missing persons bilaterally.
"It is the fate of people what is important for us, and we are going to continue working in that direction." – Lefort has assured. Then the meeting went on behind closed doors.
