On April 8, the Media Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia hosted a working meeting between Inal Ardzinba, the Minister of Foreign Affairs with representatives of UN agencies and international non-governmental organizations working in the territory of the Republic of Abkhazia. The meeting was also attended by Irakli Tuzhba, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Martin Tarkil, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on Cooperation with International Organizations and Artur Gagulia, Head of the Department for Cooperation with International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the following organizations as: Danish Refugee Council, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, World Vision, Movement Against Hunger, HELO Trust, UN Women, UN Children's Fund, International Committee of the Red Cross, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and WHO representative in Abkhazia.
The main topic of the conversation was the current activities of the UN agencies and international non-governmental organizations on the territory of the Republic of Abkhazia.
Representatives of international organizations reported in detail to the Minister on current and planned projects being implemented on the territory of the Republic of Abkhazia.
During the speech of Erwin Blau, the Head of the Movement Against Hunger Office in Abkhazia, the Minister announced the suspension of the project “Improving Local Governance through Inclusive Development Approaches” until full information on the specific goals of this program is received.
During the meeting, Inal Ardzinba expressed concern over the increased activity of the Georgian and Western intelligence services. “If your activities correspond to the goals and objectives of the Georgian development programs, then we automatically consider this as a threat to national security. We understand very well that the purpose of these programs is to absorb our territories and establish Georgian power here, but the Georgian flag will never be here,” the Minister noted.
Inal Ardzinba emphasized that if the activity of the organization is humanitarian, then it should remain humanitarian and not go over to the political plane.
The head of the Foreign Ministry of Abkhazia said that the activities of the Georgian special services are aimed at creating agents of influence, primarily among young people.
“I want to inform you that our young people are educated, smart, they know the history of their state and have not forgotten anything,” he said.
At the end of the meeting, Inal Ardzinba thanked the representatives of international organizations for the meeting and expressed confidence that conversations in this format of open dialogue are very useful and important.