On April 26, Ketevan Tsikhelashvili met Vice Mayor of Hamburg and Senator for Science Dorothee Stapelfeldt. First Deputy State Minister also met experts and the president of Institute for Peace Research and Security of Hamburg University. Parties talked about Georgian Government’s approach to conflict resolution and perspectives for future cooperation.

Last week, on April 21-29 Ketevan Tsikhelashvili also held meetings with political and expert circles, as well as representatives of leading analytical organizations in Berlin. At the meeting German partners confirmed support for peace policy of the Government of Georgia and expressed readiness to deepen cooperation.

Meetings were also held in Switzerland. On April 24 Ketevan Tsikhelashvili met representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and experts in Bern. They talked about importance of Switzerland in the conflict resolution process, as a mediator between Russia and Georgia and a host of Geneva Discussions. Switzerland’s role as a future head of the OSCE and a supporter for implementation of the agreement on Russia’s membership in the World Trade Organization was also discussed. Parties discussed perspectives for intensified cooperation as well.

On April 24 Head of the Department for Relations with International Organizations and Legal Provision, Nodar Tangiashvili met political directors of foreign agencies of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

At the meeting members of the Benelux delegation expressed willingness to get familiarized with recent developments in the country. Representative of the Office of the State Minister for Reintegration provided the guests with information about office’s activities with regard to Abkhazia, South Ossetia and civil integration, as well as new Government’s conflict resolution vision. The guests welcomed pragmatic approach of the Government of Georgia, expressed support for its visions and territorial integrity of the country.

At the meeting existing problems of Abkhazia and Ossetia as well as ways for EU involvement in the regulation of Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian relations were discussed.

Paata Zakareishvili provided them with information about activities of the Office of the State Minister with regard to conflict resolution and civil integration and vision of the Government of Georgia for conflict resolution.

Parties also referred to resources for Europe’s engagement in conflict resolution process, continuation of non-recognition policy and Geneva International Discussions.

During the meeting ongoing processes in the country were also discussed. Specifically, it was noted that the country moves towards democracy in accordance with European values and cooperating with European institutions.

The forum was also attended by the leaders of Central and East European countries, representatives of ministries of foreign affairs, as well as leading experts from Europe and the United States.

In parallel with the forum, meetings were arranged with the representatives of Visegrad Group countries and ministries of foreign affairs of Baltic Countries. They confirmed their support towards Georgia and readiness for intensified cooperation. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili also met with European and American experts on Georgia. The main theme of the meetings was Georgia’s perspectives for European integration and Georgian government’s conflict resolution policy. The partners expressed support for the strategy of the Government of Georgia.

Today Ketevan Tsikhelashvili will attend the meeting arranged by the Atlantic Council of Slovakia, Visegrad Eastern Partnership Program and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. At the meeting group of experts will talk about ongoing reforms in Georgia and vision and strategy of the Government of Georgia with regard to conflict resolution.

Next week First Deputy State Minister will visit Berlin, Hamburg and Bern. She will meet with officials, representatives of institutes working on peace issues and experts.

Paata Zakareishvili discussed the activities of the ministry in the beginning of the meeting. Specifically, he mentioned that in the near future the Ministry would introduce the annual report of the concept of tolerance and civil integration of 2012 and future plans of 2013 to the government. The State Minister also talked about the amendments to the Law on Occupied Territories and noted that the opposition reacted on this issue inadequately.

The State Minister also reviewed Geneva International Discussions and said that the Government of Georgia takes a constructive position in Geneva.

"The main direction of our policy is to take arguments away from Abkhazian and Ossetia people against Georgia. Russia must not have grounds to claim that Georgia is a belligerent country who is impossible to negotiate with. Our west partners should have stronger arguments that Georgia has changed and it is not aggressive to Abkhazia and Ossetia",-stated the State Minister.

Paata Zakareishvili also answered journalists’ questions. Questions mostly referred the investigation into the war of 2008. The State Minister noted that political questions on the war were to be answered.

"What I am interested in is how we actually got to the point of war, rather than what was happening since the day it started. There are many questions of political nature and they must be answered", - stated Paata Zakareishvili.

The State Minister also answered the questions about problems of the villages located near the administrative boundary line, including those related to freedom of movement and noted that the government of Georgia constantly brings up this issue during Geneva International Discussions and also within the framework of the meetings of Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism.

The State Minister also answered the questions about receiving refugees from Syria and mentioned that it would be a kind gesture from Georgia to help these people to be transported.

Journalists were also interested in the issue of his visit to Javakheti. Paata Zakareishvili noted that on April 19 he would visit Akhalkalaki with several members of the government and answer the questions that part of them had brought up on April 4 during the demonstration organized in front of the Chancellery building.

The State Minister answered the questions of different content as well as questions mentioned above. A few dozen media representatives attended the meeting.