TBILISI. Aug 30 (Interfax-AVN) - A U.S. senator has proposed the establishment of an international conference to help settle Georgia's territorial integrity.
Richard Lugar, chairman of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, told Georgian parliament chairperson Nino Burjanadze that the conference could be used to discuss territorial issues such as the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The United States wholeheartedly supports Georgia's territorial integrity and believes that an international conference attended by the United States, Russia and European countries had to discuss this issue, he told reporters on Monday.
Lugar said that such a conference is also needed so as not to perpetuate the status quo in relations between Georgia and its problem provinces.
No matter how busy it is, the U.S. Administration has time to attend to Georgia's problems, Bujanadze said.
Georgia's provinces of South Ossetia whose capital city is Tskhinvali and Abkhazia whose capital city is Sokhumi gained de- facto independence from Georgia in the 1990s. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has called on both provinces to restore ties with Tbilisi but they have rejected these calls.