127th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism meeting takes place in Ergneti

ERGNETI, 30 September 2025  - The 127th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) took place yesterday in Ergneti. The meeting was co-facilitated by Tibor Kozma, Deputy Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), and Christoph Späti, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus.

The co-facilitators welcomed the continued commitment of all participants to the IPRM format. They underlined its crucial role in addressing security-related developments and finding practical solutions for women, men and children on both sides of the administrative boundary line (ABL).

Participants reflected on the recently concluded irrigation season and acknowledged the effective cooperation achieved in this area. They highlighted the essential role of the EUMM-managed Hotline in ensuring timely and accurate information exchange on water levels and in resolving related challenges. The co-facilitators encouraged further progress through continued engagement and reiterated their readiness to support efforts in this area.

The EUMM and OSCE reiterated their concern over the continued practice of detentions and advocated applying a humanitarian approach. Discussions also touched on restrictions to freedom of movement. The co-facilitators underlined that the full reopening of all crossing points would significantly improve the daily lives of conflict-affected communities and encouraged participants to look into concrete possibilities to improve the situation. They highlighted that increased movement across the ABL would strengthen trust and the feeling of security among local communities.

The participants praised the EUMM-managed Hotline as an effective practical tool for sharing reliable, timely information on security and humanitarian issues.

The next regular IPRM meeting will take place on 18 November 2025. On the same day a technical meeting on irrigation and access to water will be held to review lessons from the past irrigation season and plan for future work. The last IPRM meeting of the year will take place on 22 December 2025.