Georgia is interested in Russia joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said, News Georgia reports.
The Director General of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, said last week that Russia will likely join the organization in late 2011.
Kalandadze underlined that Russia’s membership in the WTO will determine the negotiations with Georgia and the ability to make compromises.
Geneva hosted the latest talks on WTO membership on September 12. Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze said that the talks were fruitless.
Russia has been striving for membership since 1993. Georgia left the negotiating process in April 2008, protesting against Russia’s lifting of economic sanctions against Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The talks renewed in March 2011, under Swiss mediation. Georgia demands international monitors be granted permission to observe the borders of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region and implementation of a system for information exchange on freighting.
