Georgia is planning to withdraw from the remaining three dozen agreements within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said on Monday.
Georgia declared its withdrawal from the CIS, a loose alliance of former Soviet states, following a five-day war with Russia over South Ossetia in August 2008. Since then, the country has pulled out from about 40 CIS agreements.
“There are about 30 agreements left which Georgia wants to withdraw from,” Kalandadze told journalists in Tbilisi, adding: “Since we are not a member of the CIS, we do not want to have any additional obligations before this alliance.”
A conflict over South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian republic, Abkhazia, which Russia recognized as independent states following the 2008 war, has been a major obstacle to improving relations between Moscow and Tbilisi, prompting Georgia to seek NATO membership.
In early April, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen praised Georgia’s commitment to the alliance and domestic reforms, describing Tbilisi as a “model partner” as he welcomed President Mikheil Saakashvili to NATO headquarters in Brussels.
