Tbilisi, Sokhumi Make Step Towards Direct Talks

Tbilisi and Sokhumi have agreed to resume the work of the Georgian-Abkhaz Coordination Council after talks between the Georgian President’s aide for the Abkhaz issues Irakli Alasania and Foreign Minister of breakaway region Sergey Shamba on March 29, Apsnipress news agency reported.

Irakli Alasania paid his first visit to Sokhumi on March 29 after he was appointed as the presidential aide.

Sergey Shamba said after the talks that “the meeting was unusually fruitful.”

“We have restored a very important mechanism – the Coordination Council, which always helped us to solve current problems,” Shamba said.

The Georgian-Abkhaz Coordination Council last gathered in January, 2001.

Irakli Alasania said after the talks that restoration of the Council’s work will foster direct talks between the sides.

“Our major priority is direct talks with the Abkhaz side… The confidence-building process and direct talks between the sides can be fostered only through regular meetings and implementation of economic projects,” Apsnipress reported quoting Irakli Alasania.