The reception of the delegation of the co-chairs of the International Geneva Discussions in Tskhinval, scheduled for February 7, 2023, has been postponed, the statement of the delegation of South Ossetia to the Geneva International Discussions says.
The statement has noted that the co-chairs of the Geneva International Discussions on Security in Transcaucasia notified the South Ossetian party of the decision to postpone the next, 57th round of the Geneva discussions, scheduled for February this year. The meeting has been rescheduled for April.
“Contrary to the established practice, the decision was made by the Co-Chairs unilaterally, without consultations with the participants. The announcement of the appointment of the 57th round for February 21-22 was sent after the decision of the Co-Chairs to abandon the meeting in December 2022.At the same time, the 56th round, held in October in a truncated format, was the only one for the entire 2022,” the document says.
The South Ossetian delegation noted that the Geneva discussions on Transcaucasia are the most important international platform where security issues in the region are discussed and the only format for a direct dialogue between South Ossetia and Georgia.
“All the parties involved have repeatedly noted that the Geneva discussions are the important element in maintaining peace and stability in the existing architecture of regional security. Repeated postponements of one round after another in the format of the International Geneva Discussions for a long time slow down the development of the Geneva process and lead to the degradation of the format, which ultimately provokes an increase in the security deficit in the region," the statement reads.
The South Ossetian party has emphasized that the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms operating during the Geneva Discussions cannot fully replace the full-format meetings of the participating parties, as well as the visits of the Co-Chairs to the capitals of the participating parties to discuss the agenda and prepare full-format meetings.
