Georgia, Russia to meet again for WTO talks

TBILISI, Oct. 15 -- Georgia and Russia will hold their next round of talks concerning the latter's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a local official participating in the talks said on Saturday.

The next round of talks is scheduled to start on Oct. 20 in Swiss city of Geneva as usual, according to Georgia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kapanadze.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry stressed that the South Caucasus country's stance toward Russia's membership to the WTO has not changed. The country requires from Russia as pre-requisites for its agreement such conditions as transparency of trade across borders to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Both regions have pronounced independence after the August 2008 conflict between Georgia and Russia but Georgia claims sovereignty and territorial integrity over these regions.

Georgia demands that cargo transport into Abkhazia and South Ossetia should deliver in advance information on the planned cargo transport as required exchange of information.

Georgia and Russia broke off their diplomatic relations after the August 2008 conflict.

In March this year, the countries resumed their talks concerning Russia's accession to the WTO. Their talks have since been unsuccessful due to the differences between the two negotiating parties.

Russia has been arguing that Georgia's demands are not in line with the requirement of the WTO accession requirement.

The WTO working group is preparing for a negotiation round with Russia in November this year.

October 15, 2011

Source: English.news.cn