UN General Assembly
1997

have been prevented. As the vicissitudes of the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia, have shown, there is still a need for clearly coordinated joint actions between the United Nations and regional and international organizations for the settlement of conflicts. The absence of such a practice considerably reduces the effectiveness of the peacekeeping efforts of our community. Georgia’s experience provides a positive example of cooperation between the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This cooperation includes the joint United Nations-OSCE office for monitoring human rights in Abkhazia and the programme for the economic rehabilitation of the Tskhinvali region, proposed and implemented by the United Nations Development Program. I also believe that we should seriously consider the proposal of the acting Chairman of the OSCE, by which the State chairing that Organization would automatically join the group of Friends of the Secretary-General on Georgia, thereby promoting and increasing cooperation between the United Nations and the OSCE. We believe that there is a need to welcome the process of cooperation between the United Nations and regional international organizations, which