The Meeting of the Government of Georgia was held on 8 February 2006.
Before the commencement of the Meeting, Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Noghaideli greeted the audience and said: I'd like to draw your attention to a few questions. First of all, to the discussions that have started in the Parliament towards withdrawal of the peacekeepers from the conflict zone.
It is important that we are proceeding precisely in line with the resolution of the Parliament. We had to prepare the report on the situation in Tskhinvali Region by 10 February. Yesterday, Mr. Giorgi Khaindrava and I submitted to the Bureau of the Parliament of Georgia quite a detailed report on the situation. Mr. Giorgi Khaindrava and other ministers will continue making these reports before the joint committees and the question will be discussed at the plenary session on 15 February.
As you know, to the document that we had prepared by instruction from the President we secured OSCE support in December. It is very important that Russia, too, was among the supporters. Before the end of December, there was a certain positive diplomatic activity on their part but disappointingly there has been only a regress in the peace process since then... However, I'd like to reiterate that our objective, naturally, is to settle the conflict peacefully in accordance with the OSCE-approved plan. It has never been our end in itself to get the peacekeeping forces out of the conflict zone. We'll make the final decision within the interests of Georgia. I'd like to ask the competent authorities to take an active part in the discussions of 15 February to make sure that the whole information is provided to the Parliament in detail.
At the same time, I'd like to touch upon the results of the visit to Turkey. We started presenting the to-be-privatized facilities that were discussed at the previous Government meeting to investors and we started the process from Turkey. The privatization list includes energy and telecommunication facilities. Besides, we presented to investors the growing banking sector of Georgia and, as agreed, we are going to invite the Turkish construction sector to take part in the projects implemented with the state budget funds as well as with private investments. During the visitm we made a few important decisions, which are being fulfilled these days. From 10 February, the 3-month visit VISA regime is lifted between the countries. In this respect, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must promptly carry out the relevant measures. Sarpi Customs will be jointly modernized and the project will be completed in April 2007. Sarpi Customs actually can't handle the flow of cargo. At this point, there are series of problems there, and the Ministry of Finance and the Customs Department are working to address them.
I am happy to say that in the first half of the year we are planning to hold the Days of Georgian Culture in Istanbul. Naturally, the Ministry of Culture must work to this end, and the Turkey-based Georgian bands must also take an active part in the event together with the Georgian groups.
Press Center of the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia