Russia should first of all turn to Georgia if it wants to join the World Trade Organization, the Georgian foreign minister said on Monday.
"In order for the issue of Russia's joining the WTO to be discussed, Russia should first of all turn to us with a request to start such talks. As soon as we receive such a request, we will coordinate our positions and, believe me, Russia's accession will be carried out without any damage to the interests of Georgia or any violations of the WTO charter and regulations," Grigol Vashadze said.
The minister also called the current relations between Russia and Georgia 'non-existent.'
"The relations with Russia may be described as non-existent. This is the most precise description of what we are having now," Vashadze added.
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 in October that his country would not support Russia's WTO bid unless the two states agreed on customs procedures for the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia recognized as independent after the war.
Russia, the only major economy outside the global trade body, has been seeking WTO membership since 1993.
TBILISI, December 27 (RIA Novosti)
