2006 Press Releases
Transcript of Press Conference with Deputy Assistant Secretary Matt Bryza
November 17, 2006
Opening statement: Thank you Mr. Ambassador for that kind introduction. Thanks to all of you for being here today. Your presence is really a testament to how strong bilateral relations are, I’m so pleased to see you all here. My reason for being here is obvious, it’s the usual reason why I’m here: to consult as the partners that the United States and Georgia are, to work together on our three areas where we have shared strategic interests. We have shared interests on security which means fighting terrorism, but it means helping Georgia restore its territorial integrity – meaning peaceful resolution of conflicts within Georgia’s internationally recognized borders. We have a shared set of interests on energy which means helping to move Caspian oil and gas to global markets in a way that enhances Euro-Atlantic energy security, which means first and foremost making sure Georgia takes care of its domestic energy needs this winter and for future winters, and which also means helping Europe diversify its sources of gas supply. And finally we have a shared set of interests in helping Georgia succeed in its remarkable democratic and economic reforms. I think sometimes in the rest of the world – as we all encourage Georgia to keep moving to deepen its reforms, to do more on judicial reform and democratic reform and economic reform – [those of us] outside of Georgia sometimes don’t fully appreciate what a remarkable distance Georgia has already traveled in just these three short years since the Rose Revolution. But of course there’s always more work to do on democratic institutions and increasing the efficiency of market systems to bolster prosperity. And with that I welcome your questions.
Russia Today: Georgia is right now considering alternative energy supplies. Iran is one of the serious alternatives. In case Georgia decides to choose Iran as a long term energy supplier do you think it will somehow complicate Georgia-American relations?
DAS Bryza: I think U.S. – Georgian relations are as strong as they can be because of the interests I described which reflect our shared values of political and economic freedom .We very much share the objectives, not only of Georgia, not only of Azerbaijan, or Turkey, but in all of the Euro-Atlantic community to diversify energy supplies. We’ve been working on that now for over a decade. And when we do, our goal is not to enter into any sort of zero sum game or competition with Russia or any other country. Number one, I should say that we welcome the reality that Gazprom, for all these years, has been able to supply gas reliably to much of Europe. We don’t want that to stop. We want that to continue. But we also understand that the way any commercial entity, any company, anywhere in the world can be reliable over the long term is if there’s real competition. So we’re in favor of competition, not confrontation. In my country’s history the first major anti-trust case we ever had was the breakup of Standard Oil, which shows from the very beginning of my country’s commercial anti-trust history we tried to limit or eliminate monopolies in energy. So diversification, competition in energy, is our goal because we think that increases market efficiency and will lead to a mutually beneficial energy relationship with Russia over time. On Iran U.S. policy is clear. I think everybody knows what our policy is with regard to Iran and that policy is not just U.S. policy. There’s an international consensus on the need to work together to implement the Security Council resolutions to make sure Iran stops it nuclear enrichment and its development of nuclear weapons. Georgia finds itself in a difficult position in regard to gas supplies, as does Armenia. Georgia is in a situation now where, it’s not the U.S. claiming this, it’s Georgia’s major gas supplier saying you have a decision. You either take the price we will tell you that you must pay, or you must give up your strategic energy and infrastructure, or you won’t receive gas. That’s a very difficult decision. If Georgia, under such pressure, feels it has to look elsewhere for gas, looking first and foremost to Azerbaijan as a supplier, we understand that. If Azerbaijan is contracting the gas from a variety of suppliers, be it Russia, Iran or Azerbaijan, that’s a separate issue. While we are pursuing our policy toward Iran, we certainly don’t want Georgia or Armenia or any other country to be in a situation where it has not energy for the winter.
Reuters: The United States has changed its position regarding the acceptance of Russia into the World Trade Organization. Would Washington in this case recommend that Tbilisi, which still holds its strict position, change its position and not block Russia’s accession to the WTO?
DAS Bryza: I wouldn’t say that the United States has changed its position on Russia’s WTO accession. Our position has been that we would like Russia to be able to accede by completing its negotiations with us. And that has happened. Now, the WTO is important for many different reasons, but one of them is that it provides tools, remedies to address trade disputes which can include economic embargos or any trade practice that one party may believe is unfair. And just as the United States worked for years and completed its negotiations based on our own bilateral trade issues we look forward to Georgia completing its own trade negotiations with Russia on Russia’s WTO accession, reflecting Georgia’s own concerns.
Rustavi -2: My question is that the de-facto leaders, Mr. Kokoiti and Mr. Bagapsh, were in Russia and they took part in a broadcast TV [talk show] and they are asking [Russia] to recognize their independence from Russian side. There are some politicians in Russia who do not hide that they are already ready to [recognize independence] and there were some phrases yesterday that Russia is afraid of Europe and [Russia] wants to recognize your independence but we’re afraid of Europe. What do you think, what can they do?
DAS Bryza: You mean, what can Europe do to deter Russia from recognizing the independence of Abkhazia? Well I’m not sure. I spend most of my time thinking about what we can do with Georgia and also with the Europeans, but never quite in that context. What Europe can do is to do what it has already begun to do: issue clear statements through the European Union itself and also through the office of the OSCE Chairman in Office, Belgian Foreign Minister de Gucht – in this case not Abkhazia, but Ossetia – making clear that that referendum has no legitimacy and will not be recognized by the Euro-Atlantic community. That’s one thing. As far as Abkhazia goes, it’s important that the entire European Union stand behind the friends of the Secretary General of the United Nations on Georgia, which includes not only the United States and Russia, but France and the United Kingdom and Germany, and support our efforts, especially the Western Friends’ efforts to implement specific steps that will lead to a new political dynamic in Abkhazia; that will allow for a comprehensive settlement. One of the preconditions for resolving that conflict is for the internally displaced Georgians to return to the Gali district and other districts in Abkhazia. Right now the IDPs from the Gali district are unable to return. One reason is that they feel there is too much violence in the district to return. That’s not the fault of the CIS Peacekeepers, because their mandate is not to fight crime. So there needs to be some other grouping, an international peace grouping that will fight crime to create conditions for the IDPs to return and that way we can get towards a real settlement of the conflict but any move to declare independence or to recognize independence will destroy any hope for resolving that conflict.
Radio Liberty: Last year under the aegis of the United Nations Secretary General from France the international police force was to be established and certain steps were to be made. The fact finding mission was to arrive and we wonder if there was such a mission that [inaudible] in the country and what stage is this process currently in? We are also interested to hear [if] one of the reasons for your arrival in Georgia is promoting the renewal of the Georgia-Abkhazia bilateral dialogue.
DAS Bryza: There was a fact finding mission undertaken under the auspices of the UN Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno. I have not seen the report and I honestly don’t know what its final conclusions are. But I do know what we the Friends concluded when we were in Abkhazia last May. And that is that the criminality problem is currently a major deterrent for IDPs to return; and that the mandate of the CIS Peacekeepers does not include fighting crime there. So we, the Friends, have identified a problem that needs to be fixed. And yes, one of the reasons I’m here is to work on the rejuvenation of the dialogue between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia and I will, in fact, tomorrow make a trip to Sokhumi. Unfortunately, Mr. Bagapsh will be in Moscow, as we have just heard. I wish he would be in Sokhumi. I enjoy my conversations with him but I hope to have a chance to see Mr. Shamba and some others, maybe Mr. Lakoba. So I hope I will have something positive to report after.
Mze TV: [Inaudible]…supporters of the separatist forces [inaudible] and the creation of an international force. What is the position of the United States?
DAS Bryza: We recognize the sovereign desire of the Georgian Parliament to change the situation that currently exists, where there are only Russian Peacekeepers on Georgian territory under the CIS umbrella. Of course there’s always a question of what a government’s right is, and then, what an effective way to proceed is. Those can be two different courses of action. So we believe that it, first of all, probably does make sense to look for ways to internationalize the presence of security forces because I think the practice around the world [points to this]. The United Nations, for example, tries to avoid having neighboring countries participate in or lead peacekeeping operations in a conflict in a neighboring country. But simply removing peacekeepers, whose effectiveness certainly we could debate; I’m sure the Georgian Parliament would argue that they haven’t been effective, in some cases others would argue that they have done helpful things. So the question is: how can we avoid a situation where we create instability through a radical, rapid change and instead build forward, step-by-step, through an negotiation process that builds confidence, reduces tension, and gets the conflicts in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia on a new track that will lead to a political settlement. That’s a complex effort that requires a lot of thinking, a lot of coordination, but a lot of action as well.
Russian NTV: [Inaudible]...Mr. Putin has said that Kosovo could be a precedent for South Ossetia especially after the overwhelming vote for independence in South Ossetia. What is your evaluation, are there any grounds for such a precedent?
DAS Bryza: No, we see absolutely no reason to believe that there could be any sort of parallel or precedent set in Kosovo that could apply to any other conflict anywhere on the face of the earth. Each of these situations is unique. What happened in South Ossetia, the referendum, is ambiguous. One grouping, South Ossetians, voted in one particular way without any credible international monitoring of the process. The other major ethnic grouping was unable to participate and organized its own referendum with a completely different result. I think this shows that this process of referenda, in the middle of extremely complex situations where one ethnic group has been moved out in the middle of a conflict, does not provide any necessary precedent or guaranteed way to resolve these conflicts. And I think that we would all agree that a stable North and South Caucasus is in everybody’s interest. And there is really no sense in opening a Pandora’s box right now in this part of the world by calling into question territorial integrity across this broad region because of what that could mean for everybody. So we believe that the way to peaceful settlement is through negotiations in which the parties are represented – all parties – including internally displaced persons. Thank you so very much.
END PRESS CONFERENCE