Shamba Calls for Equal Status

Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba reiterated on April 12 that a meeting between Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh would not happen unless the Abkhaz side  were treated as an equal partner.

?We can only talk about our intergovernmental relations. Any other themes cannot be discussed and any illusions about speaking with Abkhazia regarding its wider autonomy are unreal,? Shamba said in an interview with Imedi television.  

President Saakashvili has repeatedly expressed his readiness for talks with Abkhaz secessionist authorities, but without giving any legal recogition to the current status quo in breakaway Abkhazia.

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