Zbigniew Rau arrived in Georgia earlier this week in his capacity as Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Poland's PAP news agency reported.
On Wednesday, he held talks with Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, and First Deputy Speaker of Parliament George Volski, according to officials.
During the series of meetings, Rau “confirmed the OSCE’s support for Tbilisi as it seeks to solve internal and external challenges,” Poland’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
This includes Georgia’s participation in the Geneva International Discussions (GID) and the Incident Prevention and Reaction Mechanism (IPRM), both designed to address the consequences of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war, the statement said.
Rau also reaffirmed Poland's support for Georgia's European aspirations and its territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders, officials said.
‘Avoiding escalation’
The Polish foreign minister said that support for the South Caucasus “is a priority for Poland’s leadership of the OSCE.”
Rau added that when it came to the conflict in Georgia, the aim was to “maintain diplomatic processes, keep communication channels open and avoid deliberate or accidental escalation.”
Poland’s top diplomat spoke with the Georgian leaders about issues to do with the separatist territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, officials told reporters.
He also thanked Tbilisi for its role in regional peace processes and visited the administrative boundary line with the breakaway regions, according to the Polish foreign ministry.
The visit was organised by the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia, the PAP news agency reported.
Poland holds the rotating one-year chairmanship of the OSCE in 2022.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, gov.pl