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The Estonian Head of State supports greater European Union involvement in the resolution of so-called frozen conflicts

Monday, 07 May 2007 22:08

“Georgia is one of Estonia’s priorities for developmental cooperation, because Estonia believes in and welcomes your country’s reform plans,” President Toomas Hendrik Ilves told Nino Burjanadze, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament at their meeting in Tbilisi today.

An example of cooperation is the installation of a digital stenography system in the Georgian Parliament, the official inauguration of which took place today within the framework of President Ilves’s state visit. In Estonia, contributions were made by the Chancellery of the Riigikogu and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as CIDA, the Canadian development agency.

President Ilves and Parliament Speaker Burjanadze also discussed the so-called frozen conflicts—Abkhazia and South-Ossetia.

According to the Estonian Head of State, these conflicts must be resolved based on the territorial integrity of Georgia. Estonia understands Georgia’s right to protect its borders in any possible way, but at the same time, this can only be done by maintaining calm and a cool head.

“Russia’s wish to connect the question of the status of Abkhazia and South-Ossetia to the determination of Kosovo’s governmental status in the near future is unacceptable,” said President Ilves. “Kosovo cannot be a precedent for deciding the status of Abkhazia or South-Ossetia.”

The Estonian Head of State confirmed that he supports the greater involvement of the European Union in the resolution of frozen conflicts.

“During the last almost 15 years, the current peacekeeping format has not been able to resolve the situation, we need new approaches and innovative thinking,” said President Ilves.

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