Burjanadze to Visit Kiev for CIS Parliamentary Summit
Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze will leave for the Ukrainian capital Kiev on February 9 to participate in a summit of the Parliament Speakers from the Commonweal of Independent States (CIS).
Burjanadze told reporters on February 8 that she plans to focus on the issues related to the South Ossetian conflict zone and the Russian peacekeeping forces stationed there.
“[At the summit] there will be a representative from Russia. We should clearly express our position… Our actions, including integration into NATO, aspirations into the European Union, pullout of [the Russian] bases and the decision regarding the peacekeepers are not directed against Russia,” Nino Burjanadze told Imedi television on February 8.
In separate comments made on February 8 Burjanadze also said that Georgia should expect “any kind of provocation” in South Ossetia if Georgia demands a pull out of the Russian peacekeepers. “But we, the Parliament, the President, the Government should do our best to minimize all possible threats,”
According to the Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson’s press office, Nino Burjanadze will hold talks with Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko, Parliament Speaker Vladimir Litvin and Prime Minister Yuri Yekhanurov in Kiev. She also plans to meet with Chairman of the Council of Federation, the upper house of the Russian Parliament, Sergey Mironov.
The Parliamentary Chairperson will be accompanied in Kiev by influential MPs Givi Targamadze and Giga Bokeria.
