15.10.2009

On October 15, 2009 the second meeting of the experts involved in the Georgian component of “The Black Sea Peacebuilding Network” project was held in Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS).

At the meeting, two representatives of Experts Working Group provided their own presentations on the following topics: The Government Policy in Relation with Gali and Akhalgori Districts and Current Situation There (Mr. Paata Zakareishvili, independent expert in conflict resolution) and Potential Conflict Zones (Mr. Mamuka Areshidze, Caucasus Centre for Strategic Studies).

The first presentation reflected the current situation in Akhalgori and Gali districts, as well as the difficulties which are confronted by the remaining population there. The attitude of the Georgian government towards these regions in general and to the remaining Georgian population has been also reviewed. Mr. Paata Zakareishvili presented in details the problems related with Akhalgori region.
The current situation in Kodori Gorge (Upper Abkhazia) was also described in the presentation.

After the presentation an interesting discussion took place between the experts; the current government policy in relation with the mentioned regions was evaluated and the opinions about actual problems were shared.

The discussion was actively participated by the Trust Group which was attending the meeting with the guest statues and had been invited by one of the members of the Advisory Council. The members of the Trust Group, church and civil society representatives working in Gali, Kodori and Akhalgori contributed a lot to the meeting. Based on their information, the meeting participants were clearly briefed on current situation in the occupied districts.

Another presentation referred to the potential conflict zones existing in Georgia. After completing the presentation, the discussion was held among the experts. A number of important issues have been discussed, including: situation in Truso gorge, necessity of increase of the EU role in terms of patrolling near the occupied territories, prospects of settling Meskhetian-Turks, problems of Muslim ethnic minorities.

At the end of the meeting were discussed the presentations to be provided for the next meeting. Several suggested issues were prioritized by the members of the Expert Council: