Georgia vows to be more cooperative at Geneva talks - OSCE official
TSKHINVALI, South Ossetia. Nov 20 (Interfax) - The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's co-chair-designate of international talks in Geneva on the aftermath of the 2008 Russian-Georgian war has said he received assurances from Georgia that the latter's new government would be cooperative during the negotiation process.
Andrij Deshytsya told reporters during a visit of the co-chairs to South Ossetia that the co-chairs received the assurances during a meeting on Monday with the chief Georgian representative at the Geneva talks.
Proposed ways of strengthening security and stability in the region and avoiding all forms of violence were also brought up at the meeting, Deshytsya said, arguing there is a good chance this year for progress toward the settlement of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict.
He also said the co-chairs want the issues of the status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be put off and security matters to be given priority.
The co-chairs also visited the Leningori district in South Ossetia, he said. He credited the district administration with building and rebuilding educational and cultural facilities and doing its best to achieve normal life for the local population.
One issue that is being thoroughly dealt with at the Geneva talks is freedom of movement. There are many ethnic Georgians and refugees from Georgia in the Leningori district, and some of them often cross the Georgian-South Ossetian border. So the co-chairs make it a point to pay annual visits to the district, Deshytsya said.
Free travel across the Georgian-South Ossetian border would be very important for the international community, he added.
The South Ossetian president's conflict settlement envoy, Marat Dzhioyev, said the agenda for the next round of Geneva talks on December 11-12 was discussed during the co-chairs' visit to South Ossetia.
He said the South Ossetian side insisted on speeding up work on a legally binding document on the non-use of force, and that the issue of those missing after the 2008 war was also raised.
