In his address to the OSCE Ministerial Council in Ljubljana on December 6, Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili supported calls for structural changes of the organization ?by improving consultative and decision-making processes? and called on the OSCE to play a more active role in the South Ossetian and Abkhaz conflict resolution process.
?Today, the OSCE is facing up to new realities and challenges by trying to further implement substantial reforms in order to become more effective and result oriented body, Bezhuashvili said.
He said that during the last two years the meetings of the Ministerial Council ?have not succeeded in making either political declarations or regional decisions.?
?Georgia supports the idea of [the] establishment of the special mechanism within the OSCE that will facilitate the swift and peaceful resolution of unresolved conflicts,? Bezhuashvili said.
He reiterated Georgia?s commitment to solve the conflicts peacefully and said that Tbilisi has developed ?a comprehensive time-related Peace Plan that will serve as a basis for the peaceful settlement? of the South Ossetian conflict.
?Georgia has already taken unilateral actions according to the Plan: the draft of the ‘Restitution Law’ has been submitted to the CoE Venice Commission for consideration; villages in [the] conflict zone are provided with basic infrastructure, medical service, medical equipment and supplies for winter; etc,? he said.
The Georgian Foreign Minister condemned a law on citizenship passed by the breakaway Abkhaz Parliament as ?discriminatory? which aims ?to legitimize results of ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population which took place in 1992-1993.?
?We call for enhancing the activity of the OSCE in the settlement process in the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia through increasing project activities in the Human and Economic and environmental Dimensions – in particular for opening of the joint UN-OSCE human rights office in the Gali District,? Bezhuashvili said.
In his address, Bezhuashvili welcomed an agreement reached between Georgia and Russia on May 30, 2005 over the withdrawal of Russian military bases from Batumi and Akhalkalaki, but called for ?further progress in the ongoing negotiation process regarding a multinational observation mission? to Gudauta, Abkhazia, where Tbilisi thinks Russia still keeps a military presence.
He also welcomed the OSCE Border Training Assistance Program for the Georgian border guards, but called on the OSCE ?to encourage all efforts? aiming at restoring its Border Monitoring Operation, which was halted after a veto by Russia.
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