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| Colin Powell, Nino Burjanadze and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Maastricht. |
At the OSCE Ministerial Council in Maastricht on December 1-2 Georgia’s Interim President Nino Burjanadze secured western powers’ full support both regarding Russia’s unilateral moves in Georgia’s breakaway provinces and for the upcoming presidential elections.
Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State said, while addressing the OSCE Ministerial Council on December 2, “the international community should do everything possible to support Georgia’s territorial integrity.”
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov also attended the summit in Maastricht. Last week Ivanov held talks with the leaders of the Georgia’s secessionist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia – a move which caused irritation in Georgia’s new leadership.
Georgian Interim President Nino Burjanadze said on December 1, while addressing the OSCE Ministerial Council in Maastricht, that Russia undermines Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity with its unilateral moves.
“Our Russian colleagues should also understand that actions undermining Georgian sovereignty and territorial integrity similar to those we witnessed during the last week in Moscow [referring to Ivanov’s meeting with Georgia’s secessionist regions’ leaders] ruin all positive messages and put us in an unavoidable confrontational position,” Reuters quoted Nino Burjanadze.
“We are ready to step out of a box of historical prejudices and start our relations from a clean sheet. At the same time this should be a two-way street,” Nino Burjanadze added.
The United States have offered substantial support to the Georgian position. Powel slammed Russia’s diplomatic innuendoes in South Caucasus saying “no support should be given to breakaway elements seeking to weaken the territorial integrity of Georgia.”
Colin Powell also touched upon another painful spot of Russo-Georgian relations and Russia to fulfill its commitments to close down its military bases in Georgia undertaken at the 1999 OSCE summit in Istanbul .
Similar messages were repeated from the EU, as Nino Burjanadze after met EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in the Brussels on December 2.
Solana said after the talks Georgia’s “stability and the territorial integrity is fundamental.”
“We will try to help as much as possible,” he said. “We can help a) politically, b) economically and c) urgent help that may be needed to put the electoral process in order.”
Observers say that the western, particularly the U.S. support for Georgia has further increased after the peaceful transition of power in the country.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Lynn Pascoe will lead an interagency team to meet with officials of Georgia’s Interim Government on December 3-6. The team will review specific assistance proposals for Georgia’s upcoming elections and support for Georgia’s political and economic reform.
New Leadership Secures Fudning for the Elections
As holding of the free and fair presidential elections, scheduled for January 4 is seen as a crucial for the stability in the country, the donor states, including the United States decided to focus on on assisting the new leadership with the elections.
Financial support to hold elections is of vital importance for the country with some USD 136 million budgetary deficit.
Foreign ministers from OSCE participating States have pledged to provide more than five million euros in immediate assistance to Georgia to help the country organize presidential and parliamentary elections.
Preliminary estimates from the OSCE Mission to Georgia are that some 2.6 million euros will be needed to organize the presidential elections and around 3.5 million euros for the parliamentary elections.
“The OSCE has a clear obligation to help Georgia and we have not failed,” the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE and Netherlands Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in Maastricht.
“We need very serious financial support in this very serious and difficult time for Georgia. We in Georgia will do our very best to ensure that we have truly free and fair elections,” Nino Burjanadze said.
The Director of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Ambassador Christian Strohal, said ODIHR was preparing to deploy 30 long-term observers and 450 short-term observers for the forthcoming elections.
