SECRETARIAT, GROUP OF FRIENDS DISCUSS GEORGIAN-ABKHAZ

 

PEACE PROCESS AT HEADQUARTERS

 

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

On 23 November, the Secretariat met with representatives of the Group of Friends of the Secretary-General for Georgia at the United Nations in New York.

The Secretariat briefed on the recent contacts of Special Representative of the Secretary-General Tagliavini in Sukhumi and Tbilisi.  The participants exchanged views and discussed the next steps in support of the Georgian-Abkhaz peace process and confirmed their intention to hold a meeting of senior representatives of the Friends, under United Nations chairmanship, on 13-14 December 2004, in Geneva.

The participants expressed their hope for an early resumption of the dialogue between the two sides in order, inter alia, to prevent instability and to build mutual confidence.

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