The permanent representative of the Prime Minister of Georgia for the settlement of relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze, said that at the end of the month in Prague his next meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin will be conducted, at which the parties intend to discuss implementation of the agreement "On customs administration and trade."
We are talking about documents filed in 2011 in the negotiations on the consent of Georgia to Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. Tbilisi has tried for a long time to link the issue with the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, already recognized by that time by Moscow as independent states. The administration of President Saakashvili insisted that Georgia should exercise customs control on the Abkhaz and South Ossetian sections of the Russian-Georgian border. To everyone it was clear that this requirement was unrealistic, but President Saakashvili threatened to veto Russia's accession to the WTO.
The situation changed only after the meeting of the Presidents of Georgia and the United States. Barack Obama asked Mikhail Saakashvili not to interfere with the process of Russia's accession to the WTO, because, in his words, "it is very important for the whole world."
The Georgian leadership, did not want to annoy its main ally and agreed, but to solve the problem of trafficking through Abkhazia, Moscow and Tbilisi mediated by Switzerland concluded the above agreement. It provides the participation of the Swiss company in the implementation of customs procedures between Russia and Georgia on the Abkhazian section. Under the agreement, Swiss specialists will be on the Georgian-Abkhaz border, as well as on the border between Russia and Abkhazia, respectively, with the Georgian and Russian sides. Thus, the Abkhaz territory is transformed into a "corridor" of trade between Russia and Georgia. In this case, the laws of Russia and Georgia are not formally violated, and each side has an opportunity to declare loyalty to their approaches to the issue of the status of Abkhazia.
Russia considers Abkhazia to be an independent state, while Georgia insists that the republic is part of Georgian territory.
If customs procedures were carried out only on the Georgian-Abkhaz or only on the Russian-Abkhaz border, one party gets an opportunity to claim that the other party has agreed with its position. But since there are two Swiss mission (near Sochi in Russia and close to Zugdidi in Georgia), Tbilisi and Moscow might interpret the contract in their own ways, not "harming" their own reputation.
However, from a practical point of view, this treaty meant nothing to bilateral relations, as there was no trade between Russia and Georgia that time. Firstly, a Russian embargo was in place, imposed in 2006 after the confrontation regarding the arrest in Tbilisi and Batumi of four Russian officers on spying charges. Secondly, the unsolved problem of Abkhazia did not allow the Russian Federation or Georgia to use the "corridor" for mutual trade.
All players were well aware that the agreement signed in 2011 has a practical sense only if goods will actually move through Abkhazia from the Caucasus to Russia. But the only project for such a move in the future is the restoration of the railway in Abkhazia for a direct rail link between Russia and Armenia via Georgia.
Probably negotiations between Karasin and Abashidze on the implementation of the agreement in 2011 will translate into a conversation about the possible restoration of the railway. By the way, when in 2012 the State Minister for Reintegration Paata Zakareishvili first sounded the theme of restoring the railway through Abkhazia, he explained his position that this step would not harm the firm position of non-recognition of Abkhazia by Georgia, since all customs issues are resolved within the framework of the agreement on Russia's accession to the WTO.
Thus, the current government has a strong argument against the inevitable charges of the opposition of the "deposit of Abkhazia" and "transfer to the border of Zugdidi", because the agreement on the customs was signed during the rule of Saakashvili's party, which has now turned into the opposition. So what can the claims on the current government be?
Note that, reporting on topics for future meetings with Grigory Karasin, Zurab Abashidze made no mention of the railway through Abkhazia, knowing the "explosiveness" of the topic. But to implement the agreement of 2011 practically is possible only if the customs corridor through Abkhazia works, so the question of the railway suggests itself, because a regular road link between Russia and Georgia through Abkhazian territory is unrealistic and pointless from the trade and economic point of view.
On the other hand, having revived talk of the railroad, the government of Irakli Garibashvili necessarily will face problems of a domestic and foreign order, as in Baku all the talks about the Russia-Armenia railway are closely watched.
