Foreign Minister of Lithuania, Linas Linkevičius says that when within the framework of the CoE Ministerial the occupied territories of Georgia are mentioned as an integral part of the country, this is another message of clear support.

As Linas Linkevičius told the Georgian First Channel, international organizations should continually work on the peaceful resolution of the conflict. He says that the Council of Europe and especially Lithuania welcomes those initiatives that the Georgian government is implementing.

“The Council of Europe is operating within its mandate and we may not expect many concrete steps, but the document that we have to adopt speaks about and welcomes the Georgian government’s peace initiative “A Step to Better Future”, condemns the situation in the occupied territories, expresses concern and criticism about the unacceptable situation at the so-called borders. When the document adopted by the Council of Europe speaks about the occupied regions, this is another message of support to Georgia’s territorial integrity. Now all the international organizations must work to analyze why the situation is not changing in the occupied territories. Despite the many attempts of the international community, we do not have any improvement, so this issue should be constantly on our agenda”, – Linas Linkevičius said.

The capital of Finland hosts Ministerial of CoE on May 16-17. During the forum, several important documents, including the document titled “The Council of Europe and the conflicts in Georgia”, will be discussed. The document once again confirms the strong support of the member states to the territorial integrity of Georgia, strongly condemns the Russian aggression and calls on the occupant country to fulfill international obligations.