May 10, 2013

Abkhazia: Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Addresses IDP’s At UN


The Georgian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, David Zalkaliani, met the Advisor to the UN Secretary for Political Affairs, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, in order to discuss the UN General Assembly Resolution concerning ‘refugees and internally displaced peoples of Abkhazia, Georgia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia’.

Below is an article published by Trend:

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia David Zalkaliani paid a visit to New York to discuss topical issues of cooperation with the UN as well as with a number of UN members states, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia reported on Tuesday.

David Zalkaliani met with the Advisor to UN Secretary General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, the president of the UN General Assembly Vuk Jeremic, the head the UN Political Department for Eastern Europe Elizabeth Spehar and representatives of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Deputy Foreign Minister held about 50 bilateral meetings with representatives of the partner countries to discuss the issues of bilateral and multilateral relations.

Special attention was paid to the annual resolution of the UN General Assembly 'On refugees and internally displaced persons from Abkhazia, Georgia, and Tskhinvali region / South Ossetia, Georgia' and the issue of supporting this resolution.

Large scale military actions were launched in South Ossetia on August 8, 2008. Later, Russian troops occupied Tskhinvali and expelled the Georgian military.

Russia recognised the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in late August. In response, Tbilisi broke diplomatic relations with Moscow and has called the two unrecognised republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia occupied territories.