OSCE foreign ministers pledge immediate financial assistance for Georgian elections

MAASTRICHT, 2 December 2003 - Foreign ministers from OSCE participating States have pledged to provide more than five million euros in immediate assistance to Georgia to help the country organize presidential and parliamentary elections.

The pledges were made at a meeting late on Monday convened by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Netherlands Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, which was attended by Georgia's Acting President Nino Burjanadze.

Preliminary estimates from the OSCE Mission to Georgia are that some 2.6 million euros will be needed to organize the presidential elections and around 3.5 million euros for the parliamentary elections.

"The OSCE has a clear obligation to help Georgia and we have not failed," the Chairman-in-Office said after the informal session, which took place during the annual Ministerial Council of OSCE foreign ministers in Maastricht.

"We wish you and the people of Georgia all the very best in moving your country forward," he told Acting President Burjanadze.

The Director of the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Ambassador Christian Strohal, said ODIHR was preparing to deploy 30 long-term observers and 450 short-term observers for the forthcoming elections.

Thanking the OSCE ministers for their help, Acting President Burjanadze said: "We need very serious financial support in this very serious and difficult time for Georgia. We in Georgia will do our very best to ensure that we have truly free and fair elections."