Officials from the Georgian Government, the European Union, the United Nations, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Tuesday highlighted the importance of effectiveness of Geneva International Discussions, a platform facilitating talks on the consequences of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, ahead of the 62nd meeting of the talks next month.

The preparatory meeting, hosted at Georgia’s foreign office for the meeting round to be hosted between November 5-6, involved the co-chairs of the Discussions from the UN and European structures and was chaired by Lasha Darsalia, the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and the head of the Georgian delegation in the talks, the Ministry said.

Discussions focused on Russia’s obligations under the 2008 EU-brokered ceasefire agreement with Tbilisi, which obliges Moscow to withdraw its troops from Georgian territory and ensure the safe return of displaced persons.

The importance of restoring the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism in Gali with de facto authorities of the Russian-occupied Abkhazia region - which was suspended in 2018 after Russian and Abkhaz participants left the 57th meeting over their disagreement with Georgian Government representatives over the murder of Georgian citizen Giga Otkhozoria in 2016 - without any preconditions was also raised at the meeting.

The exchange also discussed the significance of both Gali and Ergneti IPRMs, with the latter held with de facto authorities of the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region in central Georgia.