Zhvania Offers “Direct Dialogue” to the Ossetian Authorities

Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said at a government session on August 4 that the Georgian authorities are ready for direct dialogue with the Ossetian side.

?We will offer the South Ossetian separatists to hold a direct dialogue in order to settle the conflict. Our final goal is to restore Georgia?s territorial integrity, and we will achieve this goal only through peaceful talks,? Zurab Zhvania said while commenting on his forthcoming visit to the Tskhinvali region. 

Zhvania is scheduled to arrive in Tskhinvali, the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, late this week and hold talks with de facto President Eduard Kokoev.

Earlier today, the head of the OSCE Mission in Georgia, Ambassador Roy Reeve, left for Tskhinvali to hold talks with the de facto authorities of the region over the expansion of the OSCE mandate in Georgia.