OSCE Chairperson welcomes resumption of the Dvani/Ergneti IPRM

ASTANA, 28 October 2010 - The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister and Secretary of State Kanat Saudabayev, underscored the great importance of the Dvani/Ergneti Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting held on 28 October 2010. 

The Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism was created in February 2009 as a result of the Geneva Discussions that followed the 2008 conflict. The meetings are an opportunity to discuss, among other issues: identification of potential risks, follow-up on incidents and exchange information, as well as problems affecting the communities on a daily basis. Regular meetings of the mechanism broke down in October 2009.

A meeting under the mechanism was held today in Ergneti, facilitated jointly by Ambassador Bolat Nurgaliyev, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Protracted Conflicts and Ambassador Hansjoerg Haber, Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia.

"Such direct contacts, held under the auspices of the mechanism, will contribute to stabilizing the situation on the ground," Saudabayev said. "Co-operation in solving practical problems must take place without any politicization or the setting of prior conditions. Such co-operation will benefit people living on both sides."

Saudabayev encouraged all participants in the process to regularly and actively contribute to a substantive discussion about matters agreed upon in the mechanism framework.

"The proper functioning of the mechanism will help increase the level of trust and expand the opportunities for resolving political questions within the framework of the Geneva Discussions," he said.

He reiterated that the OSCE was ready to commence working on humanitarian projects in the region and called on all parties to act responsibly and constructively also in the run-up to the OSCE Summit in Astana.