Chairs of Georgia, Azerbaijan Border Delimitation Commissions Hold Meeting

The Heads of Georgia and Azerbaijan’s border delimitation commissions held a meeting on May 14.

The information was released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia.  According to it, the special representative of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Deputy Foreign Minister Lasha Daraselia, and the special representative of the President of Azerbaijan, Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov, held a working meeting in Baku.

“The sides discussed the delimitation of the state border and discussed future steps. It was noted that approximately 2/3 of the state border is agreed by the relevant commissions and it is necessary to update active communication with the purpose of reconciling the positions of the parties on the disputed sections,” MFA said.

The ministry noted that the parties underlined the importance of the issue and noted that any provocations around the issue are unacceptable.

“The sides agreed that they will be guided by the spirit of strategic partnership.

They expressed their willingness to conduct constructive negotiations and emphasized the need to take good neighborly relations and strategic partnership between the two countries into consideration,” the statement reads.

It was agreed that the official session of governmental commissions of the two countries’ will be held next week.

Negotiations on the border demarcation became active after Azerbaijan restricted access to some parts of the Davit Gareji monastery complex, located at the border of the two countries, in early May.

The site is a Georgian Orthodox cave monastery complex located in the Kakheti region of Eastern Georgia, on the half-desert slopes of Mount Gareji, 60–70 km southeast of Georgia's capital Tbilisi. The complex includes hundreds of cells, churches, chapels, refectories and living quarters hollowed out of the rock face.

Part of the complex is located in the Aghstafa district of Azerbaijan, which has many times been the subject of a dispute.

By Thea Morrison

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