Speaking at a press conference on the RIA premises, Zhvania said he was hopeful that the Russian business conference to be held in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on May 27 would step up bilateral cooperation even further. It is Economic Development & Trade Minister Herman Gref who will be presenting Russian business at the forum, he said.
Summing up his Moscow talks with senior Russian government officials, Zhvania said that the visit was consistent with the course outlined during the Russo-Georgian presidential summit in February. According to him, the relationship between Russia and the new Georgian government is built on mutual trust.
"I've come here with a very thick briefcase, which contains issues on further development of cooperation in the area of security and a peaceful settlement of the Abkhaz conflict, as well as very many issues that will be promoting the development of economic and trade relations," the Georgian Premier said.
"We have had very intensive negotiations with the Prime Minister of Russia, very interesting and frank meetings with the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and with Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs," Zhvania reported.
Georgia's leadership see no serious problem in the fact that a lot of Russian nationals live in the republic, the Premier said. There used to be sharp debates over the issuance of Russian passports for residents of Georgia (according to some estimates, up to 90 percent of the population of the breakaway region of Abkhazia and about 80 percent of the residents of South Ossetia, another rebellious region in Georgia now hold Russian passports). "This was not in line with the spirit of Russo-Georgian relations," Zhvania said. "Nonetheless, we can see no major problem in that a large number of Russian nationals live in Georgian territory." Russia and Georgia are now building their relations in such a way as to turn their common border into one of friendship and cooperation, the Georgian PM said. Bilateral relations at their present level will serve as a good foundation for the implementation of the plan, he added.
Zhvania also pointed out that at this point, there was no need for Russia and Georgia to form joint security units for patrolling the Pankissi Gorge, bordering the Russian republic of Chechnya. Russian intelligence agencies claim that the Gorge is a hideout for Chechen terrorists making armed incursions into Russian territory. "There is a need for cooperation between the special services of Russia and Georgia, especially in countering terrorism, something that has been done rather successfully in recent time," he remarked.
The Georgian Premier said his government was closely following processes in the Euro-Asian Economic Community (EuroAsEC is an alliance of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) and in the Common Economic Zone, known by its Russian acronym, EEP (Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Ukraine) .
"We are interested in developing economic processes and this is going to lead us to a certain decision that will enable our relations with Russia to integrate," Zhvania said. But Georgia is not yet ready to make a final statement on that matter, he added.
