Heidi Tagliavini, a Swiss diplomat, who leads the EU-sponsored inquiry into the August war, and her team, met with Georgian Foreign Minister, Grigol Vashadze, in Tbilisi on December 16.
Uwe Schramm, who is Tagliavini’s deputy and who served as Germany’s ambassador in Georgia in 2001-2006, told journalists after the meeting that the Georgian authorities assured the mission of their readiness to cooperate with the inquiry.
“The only thing I have to say is that the Georgian government assured us of their willingness to cooperate and we are very, very happy about this; we are happy about the spirit of cooperativeness coming from the Foreign Ministry,” Schramm said.
Foreign Minister Vashadze said on December 15, that inquiry was in Georgia’s interests, “as we are right and we have nothing to hide.” He also said that the Swiss diplomat’s visit was a preparatory one.
The mission, which is paying a two-day visit to Georgia, will also hold meetings at the Defense and Interior Ministries.
Before traveling in Tbilisi, Heidi Tagliavini visited Moscow on December 9.
EU formally endorsed on December 2 to create a “fact-finding mission” to probe into “the origins and the course of the conflict… with regard to international law, humanitarian law and human rights, and the accusations made in that context.” EU will provide EUR 1.6 million to fund the mission.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)