Zurab Abashidze, special envoy of the Georgian prime minister, said that he will meet Russian Deputy Foreign minister Grigory Karasin in Prague before September 20 and that 80% of the issues they had discussed were of an economic nature and settled. Petre Mamradze, head of the Institute for Strategic Management, said the officials had made a good start in their talks 9 months ago by taking Abkhazia and South Ossetia off the agenda.
Mamradze noted that access of Georgian agricultural products to the Russian market had good prospects. The customs office in Kazbek has been rebuilt. Russia and Georgia are working on road communications.
Alla Yazkova, head of the Mediterranean Sea – Black Sea Center at the Institute of Europe of the RAS, praised Abashidze. She pointed out that he had been the ambassador to Russia until 2008 and had a good image of Russia. The expert noted that one of the topical problems was simplification of the visa regime for Georgia. Abashidze will discuss the problem. Yazkova said that Russian and Georgian cultural figures were intensifying cooperation. Many of their meetings lacked state support and were only backed by international foundations.
Mamradze emphasized the visa regime too. He said that it was important for Georgians, about a million of whom lived in Russia. Moscow has the second-largest Georgian population of all cities of the world. Even Kutaisi has fewer Georgian residents.
