Sukhum/Agency Caucasus – Knut Vollebaek, High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), requested the Abkhazian administration to protect the rights of the Georgian minority in particular.
On his trip to Abkhazia, former Foreign Minister of Norway Vollebaek, met with Abkhazia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba to discuss the protection of the rights of minorities that Abkhazia hosts. "Shamba and I discussed the issue of securing the rights of the Gal residents," Vollebaek told Apsnipress, Abkhazia’s state-owned news agency. "The Gal residents should be granted the right to have their education in the Georgian language." The OSCE would remain, the High Commissioner said, closely interested in efforts to return the situation in Gal to normal.
OSCE vows to support profusion of the Abkhazian language
At his meeting with Shamba, Vollebaek expressed his willingness on behalf of the OSCE to reinforce the profusion of the Abkhazian language in Abkhazia. "My predecessors made significant contribution to Abkhazia through their cooperation and I want to carry on with this active cooperation with the Abkhazian government."
The Foreign Ministry of Abkhazia issued a written statement expressing the willingness of Vollebaek to provide the participation of European experts and researchers in helping to develop the Abkhazian language and the education system of Abkhazia. Vollabaek’s willingness to help publish specific authentic literary as well as pedagogically modified materials in Abkhazian and other languages was mentioned in this statement, as well.
The High Commissioner would maintain close relations with Abkhazian institutions of education and culture so that the above-mentioned projects could come true, the Foreign Ministry said in its statement.
Apart from Bagapsh, Vollebaek also met with Stanislav Lakoba, Secretary of the Security Council of Abkhazia. Vollebaek will make a trip to Gal, as well. ÖZ/FT
