Saakashvili: Talks over South Ossetia Can Not Drag on Forever

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on October 20 that talks over the resolution of the South Ossetian conflict can not last forever and called for an immediate launch of talks over the political status of the breakaway region.
 
?The negotiating process can not drag on forever and it is not necessary to go to some European cities, or Sochi to meet the South Ossetian representatives. I myself can go to Tskhinvali [capital of South Ossetia],? Mikheil Saakashvili said at a news briefing on October 20.
 
At a session of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission, which involves representatives from Georgia, South Ossetia, Russia and North Ossetia, on October 20 it was agreed to hold top-level talks between Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and de facto South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoev. The JCC eeting was held in the Russian embassy in Tbilisi.

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Goga Khaindrava said that the meeting will take place in Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi presumably on November 5-6. ?Not later than November 10,? he added.

Zurab Zhvania said earlier that he will meet Kokoev only after a omplete demilitarization of the South Ossetian conflict zone and that in the event that talks occurred he will discuss the political status of South Ossetia with de facto President Eduard Kokoev.