Slovenia's President Discusses Georgia with Two High-level Guests

Ljubljana, 1.9.2008  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Danilo Türk, this morning received the Vice Prime Minister of Georgia and State Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Giorgi Baramidze. The Georgian guest, who initiated the meeting, outlined his position on the current situation in Georgia following the recent crisis.

According to the Slovene president, the difficult situation in Georgia should be resolved politically and not through the use of force, also keeping in mind the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. In addition, the two dignitaries had a detailed discussion on international operations, especially concerning the experience the United Nations and other international organisations have had with peace operations in Georgia. The Slovene president stressed the need for the countries in the region to play an active role, highlighting the importance of regional security mechanisms which would involve all countries in the Caucasus.

In the afternoon, President Türk discussed the situation in Georgia with the Secretary General of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut. The two agreed that the OSCE represents an important institutional framework for resolving crises in the Caucasus.

They also shared their views on the long-term development of the OSCE: Mr Türk supported the idea of holding, in the years to come, an OSCE summit dedicated to setting an outline for the role that the organisation plays today, which is in many ways different from when the OSCE was created.