Interfax: Russia, Georgia quickly rebuilding economic ties – official

TBILISI. Nov 9 (Interfax) – The Georgian prime minister’s special commissioner for relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze, is due to have his fifth meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin on November 19-23 in seeking to restore economic ties between the two countries.

The meeting will be held in Prague
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“It will be our fifth meeting, one at which we will summarize the past year, make an analysis and talk on ways of building new relations for the future,” Abashidze told Georgian newspaper Rezonansi in an interview published in its issue for Saturday.

He said he and Karasin discuss trade, transportation, scientific, cultural and other issues during their meetings.

According to Abashidze, the former variety of Georgian exports to Russia has practically been restored completely.

“All the restrictions – those on alcoholic beverages, mineral water, agricultural produce – have been lifted. A great deal of barriers have had to be surmounted for this to happen, but eventually Russia has opened its market, and our transportation companies will get involved in this process as well,” he said.

Wine and mineral water are quickly returning to the Russian market, Abashidze said. “As far as I’m aware, the first few shipments of apples, citrus fruit and vegetables have been delivered. It’s a fact that the process has started, and it won’t stop either,” he said.

In talking about border-crossing regulations, he complained that it is very hard for Georgians to receive Russian visas while Russians need no visas to enter Georgia. “We understand that the liberalization of visas is underway for certain categories of nationals of our country, so we’ll hear what progress has been made to that end,” he said.

Asked whether there were any plans for him and Karasin to discuss any proposal for restoring traffic along the railroad between Russia and Georgia that passes through Abkhazia, Abashidze said the matter had never been raised at their meetings but that, if Karasin brought it up, the Georgian side would give consideration to the Russian point of view.