21:59, 2 March 2007

Georgia hopes for the dialogue with South Ossetia

Georgia will welcome a sitting of the Mixed Control Commission (MCC) for settling the Georgian-Ossetian conflict in Tbilisi, should mutual understanding be reached by the parties at the Istanbul meeting.

"Mr. Kokoity's statement of February 28 that the Georgian party had blocked the informal meeting of the MCC's co-chairs appointed for February 28-March 2 was, if we choose the words carefully, has nothing to do with reality," runs the statement issued by the Office of the State Minister of Georgia for Conflict-Settling Matters.

"As to Mr. Kokoity's statements about the arrival of the members of the delegation of the South-Ossetian party to the MCC sitting in Tbilisi, we would like to note that, provided mutual understanding be reached by the parties in Istanbul, the Georgian party will welcome the MCC sitting in Tbilisi," the statement stresses.

Author: Alena Aleschenko, CK correspondent