OSCE Chairperson-in-Office discusses OSCE engagement and international mediation efforts in Georgia, meets participants of Ergneti IPRM

TBILISI/ERGNETI, 3 June 2014 – In Tbilisi, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter met with Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili and Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze, as well as with representatives of the Parliament and the civil society.

The Chairperson-in-Office voiced his full support for the Geneva International Discussions as the only forum where all stakeholders regularly meet. He expressed the readiness of the Swiss OSCE-Chairmanship to facilitate dialogue at the political level and among societies. Dialogue and confidence-building in the South Caucasus are among the priorities of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship in 2014.

“Having an OSCE presence on the ground would help us work more effectively towards a peaceful settlement and would facilitate project implementation,” he stated. “The Swiss Chairmanship is examining possibilities to strengthen the OSCE engagement on the ground.”

As part of the visit, Burkhalter addressed the participants of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in Ergneti. He praised the IPRM as an example for pragmatic cooperation across dividing lines and thanked participants for contributing to the stabilization of the security situation and for addressing the problems of those affected by the conflict. Ambassador Angelo Gnaedinger, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus, co-facilitates the IPRM in Ergneti together with Toivo Klaar, Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia.

The visit to Georgia followed Burkhalter’s meetings in Azerbaijan yesterday. The trip will be concluded tomorrow, 4 June, with a visit to Armenia.