OSCE Mission holds meeting to discuss rehabilitation projects for Georgian-Ossetian zone of conflict

TSKHINVALI, 16 December 2005 - Rehabilitation and development projects within the Georgian-Ossetian zone of the conflict was the focus of a meeting today in Tskhinvali, organized by the OSCE Mission to Georgia.

"Economic rehabilitation can strengthen confidence between the sides and create more favourable conditions for a constructive political dialogue towards the settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict," said Ambassador Roy Reeve Roy, Head of the OSCE Mission, who chaired the meeting.

Ambassador Reeve also said that the Joint Control Commission (JCC) shares this view, having agreed to launch a needs assessment study earlier this year.

"Economic development is an important component in the recent peace initiatives presented by the leaderships of the sides," he added.

Participants, including a number of international and local engineers and economists who today outlined their initial findings on possible infrastructure rehabilitation and economic development projects, are taking part in the Study.

Priority projects were put forward by the State Deputy Conflict Resolution Minister, Giorgi Volsky, and his South Ossetian counterpart, Leonid Tibilov.

Representatives of North Ossetia and Russia participated in the meeting, as well as representatives of the donor community, including the European Commission, the United States Embassy, the UNDP and the UNHCR.

The study is to be completed by mid-March 2006, to be followed by a donor conference, with the participation of the Co-Chairmen of the JCC.