UN-led Georgian-Abkhaz Talks Launched in Geneva
Two-day, UN-sponsored talks on the Georgian-Abkhazian peace process were launched in Geneva on April 7 with the participation of UN Secretary General?s Group of Friends for Georgia, including France, Germany, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States. The Georgian and Abkhaz delegations are also participating in the talks.
The Georgian delegation is led by State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Goga Khaindrava. The Chairman of the Tbilisi-based Abkhaz government-in-exile is participating as the Personal Representative of the President of Georgia.
The Abkhaz delegation is represented by de facto Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba, while the Russian delegation is led by Deputy Foreign Minister Valerie Loshchinin.
Reportedly, the issues of returning of refugees and opening a United Nations human rights mission in the Gali district of Abkhazia, as well as economic rehabilitation projects will be discussed during the talks.
The latest meeting of this kind was held last December; however neither Georgian nor Abkhaz delegations participated in the talks, due to the political crisis in the breakaway region.
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