28/7 Tass 172
GENEVA, July 28 (Itar-Tass) —The Russian-Georgian WTO talks have yielded no result, Russian chief negotiator Maxim Medvedkov told Itar-Tass.
At the same time, Medvedkov said discussions continued.
“It is obvious that we are entering a final stage. We’ ll see their results. I hope the way that we want. Till now the talks have yielded no result, but we continue contacts,” the Russian negotiator said.
He recalled that under Switzerland’s auspices Russia and Georgia had held three rounds of talks.
Commenting on Wednesday’s consultations of the Working Group on Russia’s WTO Bid, Medvedkov stressed, “Georgia attended the informal consultations and took part in the discussions.”
Georgia insists “Russia fulfil its obligations, which envision trade with Georgia through legal crossing points and the legalisation of [Georgian] customs points on the Abkhazian and South Ossetian border”.
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 breakaway republic of South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Russia recognized South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia, as independent states two weeks after the conflict. Georgia considers the two regions part of its sovereign territory.