Abkhaz Foreign Minister delivers speech at Chatham House, London

LONDON -- On October 14, at the invitation of the London Royal Institute of International Affairs "Chatham House", was held a meeting, which was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia Viacheslav Chirikba. His speech focused on the prospects for the development of Abkhazia as an independent state and discussion of the progress of the Geneva process on security and stability in Transcaucasia.

The meeting was led by the head of the "Russia and Eurasia" program of the Chatham House institute James Nixey. The speech by the Minister aroused great interest and discussion on the part of those present at the meeting: diplomats, political scientists, experts on the Caucasus policy, representatives of the British press, a number of international and Caucasian NGOs, Caucasian Diaspora in London, staff of embassies of several countries located in London (Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Brazil), as well as representatives of the British Foreign Office.

Many questions were asked concerning the domestic and foreign policy of Abkhazia, in particular, the Russian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Abkhazian relations, influence of a number of regional conflicts on the situation in Abkhazia, economic and political cooperation of Abkhazia with the countries of the region, economic development prospects of Abkhazia and a number of other issues.

The importance for the expert community of Great Britain, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps to learn better the position of the Abkhaz leadership on key issues of domestic and foreign policy of Abkhazia was stressed.