March 29, 2007
Deputy Assistant Secretary Matthew Bryza Press Availability
Post Opposition Morning Meeting
Tbilisi Marriott
Q: Mr. Bryza, what questions did you discuss at the meeting with the Georgian opposition parties?
DAS Bryza: First of all, this is a normal process to meet with political opposition everywhere. We do it in Washington. I get called up to the Congress all the time to talk with the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, depending on who is in power. This was a meeting with parties represented in the Georgian parliament, so we talked about a broad range of issues having to do with continuing democratic reform, but we also talked about international issues, US-Georgian cooperation in general and the conflicts as well, which is a domestic issue.
Q: Did you talk about the Georgian courts and the rule of law in Georgia as I know the Georgian opposition parties were going to discuss this question at your meeting?
DAS Bryza: We talked about a full range of democratic and judicial reforms, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to go into any detail here. Just as the president here is engaged with the same groups of parliamentary represented opposition figures, so do we want to listen to them, hear their concerns so we better understand how democracy is developing.
Q: Why is this meeting very important and what kind of information were you expecting to get from opposition parties?
DAS Bryza: It is important, because these parties are represented in the Parliament. Georgia is really important to the United States for reasons of broad security and energy, but really because now Georgia is a thriving democracy that still has a ways to go to strengthen its reforms and strengthen the independence of the parliament. So there are no issues more important than those when we sit down here in Georgia. It’s overdue for me to spend time with the opposition politicians as well as with the ruling parties.
Q: Are you here to talk about the South Ossetia and Abkhazia conflicts?
DAS Bryza: I am here to talk about the conflicts and peaceful resolution of the conflicts, so yes, we talked about Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Q: And what do you think about the conflict in South Ossetia?
DAS Bryza: I think that Georgian government has demonstrated a constructive approach and has presented a plan about a year and a half ago that we think is promising. We think it is time for the sides to have a discussion that is good faith and constructive, in which both sides in addition to the Georgians are presenting viable ways forward. What the OSCE has done with economic assistance is a step forward to help stabilize and increase the international community’s presence in South Ossetia. We need more of that.
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