Secessionist Authorities Comment on New State Minister

Authorities in both breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia said the appointment of Davit Bakradze, as the new state minister for conflict resolution issues would herald nothing positive for conflict resolution processes.
 
?Georgia doesn?t need to change its state minister, but rather to revise its policy on conflict resolution, as well as the criteria and approaches towards the settlement of existing problems,? Boris Chochiev, the chief South Ossetian negotiator, said in comments posted on the South Ossetian Press and Information website on July 20.
 
Meanwhile, Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba said that frequent replacement of chief negotiators on conflict issues ?will not prove effective.?

?Today, when the process is absolutely deadlocked, this [change] has no particular importance,? the Abkhaz leader?s web site quoted Shamba as saying.

Davit Bakradze, who was chairman of the parliamentary committee for Euro-Atlantic integration issues, replaced Merab Antadze on July 19. The latter was appointed deputy foreign minister in charge of relations with Russia ? the position he held before becoming the state minister last July.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)