Georgian and Iranian Foreign Ministers Discuss South Caucasus Security System

The Georgian and Iranian foreign minister discussed the setting up of the South Caucasus security system, Georgian Foreign Minister Irakli Menagarishvili said at a Tuesday press conference in Tbilisi. His Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi is on an official visit in Tbilisi.

"We are speaking about a security system that will unite three countries of the region - Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as three neighbouring countries - Russia, Iran and Turkey," Kamal Kharrazi said. He expressed the hope that negotiations on the issue would contribute to the establishment of the system.

Irakli Menagarishvili stressed that a number of draft projects had already been submitted for consideration and at present the main objective was to find an acceptable way to build the system. "It is too early to speak about its structure but several essential principles are quite clear, i.e. urgent settlement of conflicts in the region, making South Caucasus a co-operation area rather than a conflict zone, and harmonisation of the interests," he emphasised.