Georgian PM: restoring trust between Georgians, Abkhazians and Ossetians key to peace policy

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Thursday that restoring trust between Georgians and Abkhazians, as well as between Georgians and Ossetians, was a central element of the Government’s peace policy and its approach to restoring Georgia’s territorial integrity through peaceful means.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze noted that the wars in the two regions had created lasting challenges and contributed to divisions between the communities.

“Our Government and our country have a clearly stated policy: our goal is to restore trust between Georgians and Abkhazians, and between Georgians and Ossetians. It is already clear that this is part of a deliberate process. These steps are clearly aimed at undermining the restoration of trust”, Kobakhidze said.

“There are serious challenges and problems. There was war in both regions, and, accordingly, this has led to specific problems. The goal of our stated policy is to restore trust. Restoring trust is one of the key elements of our peace policy. This is precisely how we envision the restoration of our territorial integrity”, he continued.

According to the Prime Minister, statements made by certain individuals run counter to the Government’s clearly stated and unequivocal goal.

“Statements made by certain individuals directly oppose this clearly stated and unequivocal goal of the Government. These people are simply foreign agents and, accordingly, these statements are the result of instructions from certain forces. Of course, we must oppose such efforts. We must do everything possible to restore trust and restore our territorial integrity through peaceful means”, Kobakhidze concluded.