Russia-Georgia Expert Dialogue as a Crisis Management Model

On January 20-23, 2014, Istanbul hosted a regular expert meeting within the project "Assistance to Russia-Georgia Dialogue" implemented by RIAC and Georgian International Center for Conflicts and Negotiations (ICCN) with support of the Swiss government.

On January 20-23, 2014, Istanbul hosted a regular expert meeting within the project "Assistance to Russia-Georgia Dialogue" implemented by RIAC and Georgian International Center for Conflicts and Negotiations (ICCN) with support of the Swiss government.

The Russian side was represented by RIAC Program Director Ivan Timofeev, Professor Sergey Markedonov of Russian State University for the Humanities, Assistant Professor of Department of International Issues Applied Analysis of the MGIMO University Andrey Sushentsov, Head of Department for European integration at MGIMO-University Nikolai Kaveshnikov and RIAC Program Coordinator Alexander Eliseev. The Georgian team included ICCN Board Chairwoman Nina Tsikhistavi-Khutsishvili, ICCN Coordinator of project "Assistance to Russia-Georgia Dialogue" Mamuka Areshidze, ICCN Executive Director Maya Katsitadze, ICCN Program Manager Nino Kizikurashvili, "Assistance to Russia-Georgia Dialogue" Representative in Russia Leila Machavariani, Senior Research Fellow of Center for Social and Economic Studies Mikhail Tokmazishvili, founder of Georgian Bar Association Koba Bochorishvili, Head Clinical Psychology Department of Tbilisi Medical Institute Ramaz Sakvarelidze, and Director of Institute for Multilateral Diplomacy Levan Geradze.

The event was also attended by Andrea Bouchard, Caucasus Projects Program Manager at Swiss Foreign Ministry.

The participants discussed Russian-Georgian relations and cooperation in regional security, economic and energy areas, pointing out that the Russian-Georgian expert-level dialogue may serve as a model for other formats of crisis management, since it allows maintaining regular contacts and finding potential solutions despite political differences.

RIAC and ICCN will go ahead with their joint program, while the past event is to be followed by publication of a collection of articles on Russia-Georgia relationship by authors from both countries.