Abkhaz Official Comments on Georgian Minister’s Visit

The visit of a Georgian state minister to Sokhumi “does not mean the resumption of talks,” Sergey Shamba, the Abkhaz foreign minister, told Rustavi 2 TV by phone on October 25.

Davit Bakradze, the state minister for conflict resolution issues, arrived in Sokhumi to meet with Shamba on October 25. The meeting will also be attended by the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative to Georgia, Jean Arnault.

“We just need to clarify some of the issues which have emerged recently and which have been reflected in the recent UN Security Council resolution [on Abkhazia], as well as in the recommendations of the UN Secretary General’s Group of Friends [of Georgia],” Shamba said without going into further details.

The visit will mark an end to a long pause in bilateral contacts between senior Georgian and Abkhaz officials.

Talks between Sokhumi and Tbilisi were suspended more than a year ago. Sokhumi had linked the resumption of dialogue to preconditions, such as the withdrawal of Georgian forces and the Tbilisi-backed Abkhaz government-in-exile from the Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge in the breakaway region.

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