The first expert meeting of the ‘Georgian-Ossetian Dialogue’ project under the auspices of the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies took place in Brdo (near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana) between 15 and 18 March 2005. The meeting was attended by Georgian and South Ossetian parliamentarians, government officials, and NGO representatives, as well as a representative from North Ossetia.
The aim of the meeting was to provide an opportunity for an informal exchange of views on a wide range of issues related to the resolution of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. The format of the meeting stipulated that the participants took part in a personal capacity, rather than expressing their organisations’ official positions. As an informal and non-official process no decisions were taken at the meeting.
Among the issues discussed at the meeting were: confidence-building measures between parties to the conflict; prospects for economic cooperation and cooperation between law enforcement agencies; the question of restitution of property and human rights issues; security guarantees and prospects for a political settlement. The two sides exchanged views on the events of summer 2004 which resulted in a temporary resumption of hostilities, and assessed their impact on Georgian-Ossetian relations. In addition, Georgian participants spoke about the 'Strasbourg' initiative’ on the settlement of the South Ossetian conflict, which was presented by the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili in January 2005.
One day of the Dialogue was dedicated to presentations by representatives of international organisations and policy experts. The speakers included representatives from the European Commission and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, who outlined the role of these organisations in assisting in the process of conflict resolution and democratisation in the South Caucasus. In addition, experts from Slovenia and Italy presented case studies on the political settlement of conflicts using the examples of Serbia and Montenegro and South Tyrol.
The Dialogue meeting concluded with an unofficial reception given by the Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dimitrij Rupel, also currently the OSCE Chairman in Office. Both the participants and organisers of the meeting expressed their gratitude to the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the opportunity to hold the first Dialogue meeting in Slovenia.
The ‘Georgian-Ossetian Dialogue’ project is being organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a non-governmental international research institute with members in over one hundred countries. The IISS conducts research in the area of international and regional security in various regions of the world including conflicts in South Asia, the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa and Eurasia. The meeting was facilitated by Oksana Antonenko (IISS), Christopher Langton (IISS), Bruno Coppieters (Free University, Brussels) and Dr Dov Lynch (European Institute for Security Studies, Paris). Funding for the meeting was provided by the European Commission and the United Kingdom Global Conflict Prevention Pool.
