The Head of the EU Monitoring Mission, Ambassador Hansjörg Haber and the Georgian Minister of Defence, Bacho Akhalaia, have signed on 2 July an amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Mission and the Ministry concluded on 26 January, 2009. The original Memorandum contains a number of unilateral obligations the Ministry has undertaken in order to document the adherence of Georgia to the principle of non-use of force as enshrined in the Six-Points Agreement of 12 August, 2008.
The amendment sets out a number of technical measures designed to improve co-operation between the Mission and the Ministry, in particular with regard to access to military facilities by Mission staff. Its implementation will further increase the transparency of military dispositions on the Georgian side. It will therefore contribute to enhancing military confidence building along the administrative boundary lines with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Reciprocating steps on the other side of the administrative boundary lines would be a very welcome complement to these arrangements.
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