Zourabichvili Comments on International Border Monitoring
In an interview with the Tbilisi-based Rustavi 2 television on March 3, Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili said that ?active discussions are underway in European Union? over the issue of international monitoring of the Russo-Georgian border.
OSCE Border Operation Mission (BMO) was suspended at the 280 km Daghestani, Chechen and Ingush sections of the Russian-Georgian border after Russia vetoed discussion of issue of the prolongation of the BMO mandate at the OSCE Permanent Council session late last December.
Salome Zourabichvili said that the international monitoring of the border was one of the major issues discussed during talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Brussels on March 2.
?However, no final decision is taken by the EU [over its role in this monitoring operation],? she said.
The Georgian Foreign Minister also said that she has pushed the issue while addressing the North Atlantic Council, which is the decision-making body of the NATO. ?Participation of NATO in this [border monitoring] mission is ruled out because it is a military alliance. But everybody there [in NATO] recognizes necessity of presence of international observers at the Russian-Georgian border,? Salome Zourabichvili said.
An assessment team from the European Union visited Georgia on February 23-27 to assess the results of the suspension of the OSCE border monitoring. The team will report the mission’s findings to the EU in March.
