Agreement on the resumption of the work of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) has been reached at the 35th Geneva Discussions

From 22 to 23 March in Geneva was held the 35th round of International discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia.

 Sukhum. 24 March. Apsnypress. The work traditionally was conducted in two groups - on security and humanitarian issues.

In the first working group on security the participants of talks discussed issues related to the security of the population of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The principal position was confirmed by the Abkhaz, South Ossetian and Russian sides on the need to conclude a legally binding agreement on the nonuse of force between Abkhazia and South Ossetia, on the one hand, and Georgia, on the other. In addition, the Abkhaz side presented a draft of the joint statement of the participants on the issue of freedom of movement, as well as international recognition of the basic documents of the life cycle of the citizens of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, including national passports.

Panelists noted positively the assist of the Abkhaz side for the exchange of prisoners between Georgia and South Ossetia. That is the Geneva discussions which have become one of the negotiating areas for the implementation of this humanitarian action.

As an undoubtedly positive result of negotiations between the Abkhaz and Georgian sides on the Geneva platform became the reaching of agreement on the resumption of the work of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM), also known as Gal mechanism.

In the group of Humanitarian Affairs was positively noted the second meeting of experts on the restoration of the lost during the war archives. During the negotiations the Abkhaz delegation submitted a list of organizations, which archival documentation relating to registration of pensions of citizens of Abkhazia is in Georgia. The presence of these documents will have a positive impact on the financial position of the pension age people in Abkhazia. The sides noted the positive dynamics of the search for, identification and return of the missing persons during the fighting to the relatives of, efforts to combat boxwood moth and work in the field of cultural heritage. Panelists agreed to continue the work in these areas.

The next round of the Geneva discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia is scheduled for June 14-15.