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Mr. Chairperson,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to be able to speak to you today on the Geneva process together with my fellow co-Chairs of the Geneva Discussions, Ambassadors Pierre Morel and Antti Turunen.
Let me start with the emphasis, that during this year visits by the Chairperson-in-Office and the President of Lithuania to Georgia, both of them stressed that the utmost priority of the Lithuanian Chairmanship is to provide impartial mediation and honest brokering in the resolution of the conflict, in order to further bring the positions closer, develop a common political will, and build consensus that would eventually lead to the peaceful resolution of all disputes and disagreements.

By following this approach I took over the co-Chairmanship of the Geneva Discussions for the OSCE, which I found at a promising juncture. As a process, the Geneva framework had been solidified. Content-wise, the Geneva Discussions were not static either. President of Georgia Saakashvili last year made a unilateral commitment on the Non-use of force, a step which was welcomed by Geneva participants and the wider International Community. It gave a major boost to the Geneva process. Those who so adamantly sought after this commitment, felt reassured. The statements from Tskhinvali and Sukhumi testify to this.
 

This gave grounds for expectations that the participants would build upon this positive momentum in the following rounds of the Geneva Discussions.
 

Together with my EU and UN colleagues, we called upon all participants of the Geneva Discussions to consolidate the progress made regarding Non-use of force. For security and stability it is very important that all parties in the conflict would make reciprocal declarations and Russia could also contribute positively here with its own commitment, which could be a big step in reaching progress on Non-use of force and International security arrangement aspects in the resolution of this conflict.

Regrettably, so far this has not happened. In order to overcome this stalemate in the discussions the Co-Chairs came up with recent diplomatic initiative - “Five step plan”, which aims to consolidate and to take stock on the ongoing discussions concerning Non-use of force and International security arrangement issues, by envisaging and agreeing on the targets, which all sides should pursue in future discussions. One of the envisaged targets is the reestablishment of an OSCE meaningful presence, about which I’ll talk a little bit later in my address. The “Five step plan” proposal was initially positively received by the Geneva participants and will be thoroughly discussed in the next round of the Geneva talks. My colleagues, Pierre and Antti, will also present to you their thoughts concerning this initiative.

As I was told by my predecessors, with the start of the summer, the heat comes not only in the weather, but also in the negotiation process. And indeed several delegations recently announced their intentions to withdraw from discussions on IDPs and refugees in Working Group 2. This is particularly worrying, because here we see clear attempt to avoid substantial discussions on solution of humanitarian problems. For those who have been displaced or otherwise affected by the conflict of 2008, the debates on humanitarian issues in Geneva are of primary importance. These people want to see progress, want to see tangible deliverables. In this context let me underline: the Geneva process is an inclusive forum where rules cannot be re-written unilaterally. That just won’t work.
That was our key message to all interlocutors in Moscow, Tbilisi, Tskhinvali and Sukhumi earlier this week. The responsibility for giving the Geneva process direction does not lie exclusively with the co-Chairs. It is a shared commitment by all participants. We can only make progress if all of us, collectively, agree to do so.