21 March 2011, 21:00
Georgia plans to continue WTO negotiations with Russia
Georgia is ready to continue its constructive dialogue with Russia on its membership in the WTO, said Nino Kalandadze, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, at a briefing. According to her story, the next round of talks will take place over the next six weeks.
Ms Kalandadze said that the reports of some Russian media that the talks were disrupted are not true. "Negotiations are on; and we are interested to continue them," she said.
She also refrained from comments on the talks and expressed her regret that "the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had broken the agreement, when he gave his first public estimates, the IA "News-Georgia" reports.
Let us remind you that Russian-Georgian talks on Russia's accession to the WTO under the mediation Switzerland took place in Bern on March 9-10. The Georgian party puts the preconditions of admission of Georgian customs officers to checkpoints in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and lifting the embargo on import of a number of Georgian goods, such as wine, to Russia. During the negotiations Russia said that Georgia should not politicize the talks.
