Georgia will not hinder Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) if Moscow adheres to all the WTO's rules and procedures, Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze said on Friday.
"If Russia defends all WTO rules, if Russia is ready to respect all WTO procedures, then Georgia will have no problem [with Russia's accession to the global trade body]," he said.
Relations between Russia and Georgia have been sour since a five-day war between the two former Soviet countries in August 2008, which began when Georgian forces attacked the republic of South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control.
Georgian Prime Minister Nikoloz Gilauri said on October 7 that his country would not support Russia's WTO bid unless the two states agreed on a customs procedures for the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia recognized as independent after the war.
The announcement came a week after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama confirmed in a telephone conversation that bilateral talks on Russia's admission to the WTO were complete.
Russia, the only major economy outside the global trade body, has been seeking membership since 1993.
MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti)
