Georgian-Abkhazian conflict: progress hardly noticeable but real

Georgian-Abkhazian settlement "has achieved a certain progress", but to ensure long-term stability it is necessary to solve the issue of Abkhazia's future status in Georgia, the UN Secretary General's special envoy Heidi Tagliavini announced in New York on Wednesday.

She believes the main achievement of the recent months was the July meeting in Geneva of representatives of the two parties to the conflict (Tbilisi and Sukhumi) with the so-called UN Secretary General's Group of Friends on Georgia (Russia, the USA, Great Britain, France and Germany). The meeting worked out a concrete strategy of action in the economic and political areas, as well as in the spheres of security and return of refugees, Tagliavini emphasized.

She also described the joint trip of a Georgian-Abkhazian ministerial delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina as "an extremely important event". "During the week both parties could see what they could really achieve in a post-conflict situation with the support of the international community," Tagliavini explained.