“The detention of the three peacekeepers of the North Ossetian Peacekeeping Battalion is a rough violation of trilateral agreement,” reads an official statement disseminated by the headquarters.
The Headquarters of Joint Peacekeeping Forces call on the OSCE mission and demand the conduction of trilateral monitoring.
The Georgian law enforcement bodies detained Valiev and Khachirov on Wednesday. They kidnapped the journalists of the broadcasting company the “Rustavi 2” – Levan Jorbenadze, Archil Nikoleishvili and Davit Gvenetadze – and the “Mze” TV – Maka Gigauri, Zaza Kapanadze and Gela Alazashvili, while they were gathering data on detention of Davit Galegashvili, Kakha Brolidze and Dato Kvaratskhelia.
Embassy Of Kingdom Of Spain To Be Opened In Georgia
Gela Bezhuashvili, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and Miguel Angel Moratinos, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Spain, reached an agreement on the above-mentioned issue at the meeting held in Brussels. The meeting between Bezhuashvili and Moratinos was held before Moratinos’ departure for Georgia.
The sides noted the necessity of deepening cooperation in the economic field, for which the Georgian side will create all conditions, including a necessary legislative basis. A decision was reached to hold business forums alternatively in Madrid and Tbilisi.
At the meeting the sides discussed prospects for further cooperation in the OSCE framework, including the Georgian Government’s peace initiatives concerning resolution of the conflicts and OSCE’s role in these processes.
The sides focused on the 6 August incident. Mr. Moratinos pledged to employ all resources at his disposal as OSCE Chairman-in-Office to shed light on the attack on Georgia. Discussions on this matter will continue during his visit to Georgia as well.
The sides also spoke about the use of preventive diplomacy and elaboration of new mechanisms for crisis management.
Tbilisi Expressed Readiness To Hold Negotiations On Russia’s Accession To WTO
An official statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia in response to Mr. M. Medvedkov – Head of Delegation of the Russian Federation on World Trade Organization (WTO) accession negotiations reads about that. Medvedkov alleges that the Georgian side ignores Russia’s proposal to hold bilateral negotiations.
The Georgian Government’s main and principal requirement concerning the accession of the Russian Federation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) still remains the same: to legalize and ensure the proper functioning of illegal customs check-points – Gantiadi-Adler (Abkhazia, Georgia), Roki-Lower Zaramag (Tskhinvali region), maintained by the Russian Federation at the Georgian-Russian border. The Georgian Government will support the accession of Russia to the WTO only in case of fulfillment by the Russian Federation of the above-mentioned requirement.
It needs to be noted that on 9 August 2007 the Georgian side, in full compliance with the WTO norms and WTO accession procedures, officially submitted to the WTO Secretariat the Georgian Government’s textual inputs for relevant sections of the Draft Report of the Working Party on the Accession of the Russian Federation to the WTO, which will be reflected as presented by the Georgian side in the next revised version of this document. The reason as to why the Russian side suggests holding consultations on this issue is therefore beyond understanding. The textual inputs will be reflected in the next revised version of this document as presented by the Georgian side and there is no necessity to agree them with Russia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, reaffirming the readiness of the Georgian Government to hold the next round of bilateral market access negotiations with Russia within the framework of accession of the Russian Federation to the WTO and states that the Georgian Government has received no official request from the Russian Federation to this end.