The Geneva Discussions on Security in the Caucasus are an important component of the settlement of security and humanitarian problems in the South Caucasus. This was stated by the Co-Chairs of the Geneva discussions, the EU, UN and OSCE envoys, after a meeting held 1 October evening in Tskhinval with South Ossetian authorities.
"We have carefully reviewed the issues to be discussed at the next round of discussions on October 14th. First issue relates to security, the second covers humanitarian problems", said the EU Envoy Pierre Morel.
According to him, the work on these issues continues outside the Geneva Discussions. Morel pointed to Report of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg on the results of the investigation of cases of persons missing during and after the hostilities in August 2008.
"We have met with families of missing persons and gave them the report. Of course, there are many sensitive and tragic issues in these cases, but we will discuss this problem both in Geneva and during our forthcoming meetings in Tbilisi. The experts engaged in the investigation are the best in their field and their recommendations are very important. They will be examined by all participants in the discussions. Experts pointed out to some issues which we intend to further address", said Morel.
He noted that the discussions will continue to focus on cooperation and projects for the benefit of the population, as well as the main problems - the non-use of force and humanitarian aspects.
"There are differences, but we always try to move forward," said the representative of the European Union.
The OSCE Co-Chair Bolat Nurgaliev said that forthcoming round of the Geneva Discussions would be held 45 days prior to the OSCE summit in Astana, and Kazakhstan Chairmanship was preparing the agenda.
"We believe that majority of the speeches by heads of delegations will be touch upon problems of security in the OSCE area of responsibility, including the South Caucasus. It is very important for us to determine during the preparatory period for this important event for the OSCE to what extent this subject will be touched upon. Hence, our current visit to the region is very significant. We have received very important information. We still have a consultation in Tbilisi with the relevant authorities of Georgia. Our further work is based on what we have discussed in Tskhinval", said Nurgaliev.
The UN Co-Chair Antti Turunen also stressed the importance of the Report by international experts on the investigation of cases of missing persons. He said that the conclusions of the experts would become an important component of discussion at the forthcoming round in Geneva.
"We also hope that the issues of the missing persons will be very important for the resumption of Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms", said Turunen.
