62nd IPRM meeting takes place in Ergneti

ERGNETI, 20 January 2016 - The 62nd meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) took place today in Ergneti, co-facilitated by Kęstutis Jankauskas, the Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), and Guenther Baechler, the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus.

The participants welcomed the new OSCE co-facilitator who was appointed on 1 January 2016 as the Special Representative for the South Caucasus by the German Chairmanship of the OSCE. Baechler, who took over from Angelo Gnaedinger, has extensive experience of the region, having previously served as the Ambassador of Switzerland to Georgia.

The co-facilitators welcomed calm security situation along the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL), and the willingness of the participants to jointly address security concerns by effectively using the Hotline.

The participants discussed ways to solve irrigation water problems and decided to exchange technical information in order to make the Tiriponi canal system fully functional, to the benefit of the local population.

The participants also discussed wide range of challenges faced by local communities living adjacent to the ABL, including freedom of movement and access to land. The co-facilitators called on effective approach towards the concrete problems of the local residents.

The next IPRM meeting will take place on 24 February 2016.