The two leaders discussed developments concerning the Collective Peacekeeping Force’s mission in the Kodori Gorge, the de facto border between Georgia and the breakaway Abkhazia republic.
Both expressed certainty that stabilising the situation with the peacekeeping forces would allow for the sides involved to continue to patrol the volatile area, as envisaged by the April 2, 2002 Protocol.
Mr Putin and Mr Shevardnadze agreed that reconciliation could be reached only by joint effort and coordination with the UN military observer mission and the UN Secretary General’s special envoy to the region.