December 30 saw a meeting of officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where Murat Dzhioev, Head of the Ministry, summarized the achievements of 2016 and set tasks for the coming 2017 year.

According to the Minister, year 2016 was rather fruitful for the MFA, as in general, all tasks set by the President of the Republic of South Ossetia and the ruling legislation have been accomplished.

The main objective for the Ministry is development and strengthening of further mutually beneficial cooperation with the states South Ossetia has established diplomatic relations with.

Strengthening relations with the Russian Federation is priority objective of foreign policy of the Republic of South Ossetia. The bilateral South Ossetia-Russian relations are constructed in framework of a broad legal and contractual basis, and the Ministry conducts everyday work in this direction. To be more precise, 14 agreements of different level have been concluded with the Russian Federation the running year and 7 are currently under elaboration and finalization.

We have long-established relations with the Republic of Abkhazia, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and for many years are progressively developing the interstate relations, based on friendship, cooperation and mutual respect. In this relation we have to mention the updated Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between the Republic of South Ossetia and Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic that was signed in Tskhinval on September 20.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducts serious work in increasing the number of friendly states, developing contacts, organizing meetings of different levels.

The MFA participates in preparing, organizing and making visits of foreign delegations to the Republic of South Ossetia and visits of South Ossetia delegations to foreign states.

The activity of the Ministry promotes at the international arena the image of the Republic of South Ossetia as a sovereign democratic state, where international legislation is respected and executed, and the state that is ready for cooperation on different issues of international agenda including on strengthening peace and security.

An important direction of the Ministry’s activity is participation in the Geneva International Discussions on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia, aimed first of all at signing a legally binding document on non-use of force by Georgia.