Secret Abkhaz-Georgian Talks in Sweden

Georgian and Abkhaz officials met secretly in Sweden on June 15-17, a senior Georgian governmental official told Civil.Ge on Friday.

The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said although there was no “concrete result,” the talks were “useful.”

Alexandre Lomaia, the secretary of the National Security Council; Irakli Alasania, Georgia’s ambassador to the UN; Temur Iakobashvili, the state minister for reintegration; and Nika Rurua, a lawmaker from the ruling party, represented the Georgian side at the three-day meeting, which was an initiative of the EU and in particular of Sweden, according to the source. Sergey Shamba, the foreign minister; Leonid Lakerbaia, the vice-premier; and Vakhtang Pipia, minister in charge of tax collocation, represented the Abkhaz side.

The source also said that it had been agreed not to divulge information on the meeting.

The news about the talks, however, broke on June 19, when the EU’s foreign policy chief’s press office issued a press release after a meeting between Solana and President Saakashvili in Brussels.
 
“Mr. Solana welcomed the recent direct talks in Sweden between Georgian officials and Abkhaz representatives and he underlined the importance on maintaining the direct dialogue between Tbilisi and Sukhumi,” the press release received by Civil.Ge, via e-mail subscription, late on June 19 reads.
 
However, there is no mention of the Swedish meeting in a press release on the Saakashvili-Solana talks posted on the Council of European Union website. 

Solana’s press office subsequently explained that the excerpt on the Swedish meeting had been omitted from the second press release as it was deemed irrelevant to the Solana-Saakashvili meeting on which the press release was about. Although “significant,” the meeting in Sweden was “not high profile,” Cristina Gallach, the EU foreign policy chief’s spokesperson, told Civil.Ge.

She, however, reiterated that “Mr. Solana is very much in favor” of such direct contacts between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides.
 
President Saakashvili met the EU’s foreign policy chief on June 19. Solana’s press office also reported that during the meeting President Saakashvili discussed his June 6 meeting with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in St. Petersburg.
 
“Mr. Solana reiterated the willingness of the EU to enhance its engagement in order to help to broker a resolution to the current situation,” the EU foreign policy chief’s press office said in the press release.
 
On June 20 Saakashvili met with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Brussels.
 
Meanwhile, the Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported that Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh had left for a two-day visit to Paris on June 19. According to the report the Abkhaz leader planned talks with “French political and business circles,” as well as journalists.