STRASBOURG, December 15 (Itar-Tass) — Situation in South Caucasus, and especially the situation on the border between Abkhazia and Georgia has seen certain improvements, Swedish MP Tina Aketoft, who is a rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the humanitarian aftermath of the 2008 conflict in South Ossetia, told reporters Thursday.
She made a four-day working trip to the region recently.
Aketoft stated a decreasing number of incidents that are being registered on the border between Georgia and Abkhazia, which the West continues viewing as a region of Georgia.
She finds the fact inspiring even though the two sides are yet to traverse a certain road to a full normalization there.
Aketoft said along with it that an acute need for the adoption of trust-building measures is felt everywhere across the region. Resolution of humanitarian problems is scarcely conceivable in the absence of such measures, she said.
The clearing out of the plight of missing people might mark an important step in that direction, she said.
Aketoft also pointed out the pivotal character of the humanitarian situation that has taken shape in Abkhazia’s Gal district but she admitted a complete lack of clarity on which way the pivot will be made.
Whether the developments there will turn for the better or for the worse depends on all the parties concerned.
The rapporteur also stressed the need for opening more border-crossing checkpoints. An increase in their number will expand the economic opportunities of the local population and will help boost their living standards from the angle of accessibility to medical assistance and the reunification of families, Aketoft said.