Georgia, Russia may consider new road construction
Georgian Foreign Minister Maya Panjikidze did not exclude that the issue of the construction of the car road from Dagestan to the Georgian region of Kakheti (Eastern Georgia) will be discussed between high-ranking Georgian and Russian officials in Praque.
Special Representative of Georgian Prime Minister for Russian-Georgian relations Zurab Abashidze is scheduled to meet with Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Grigory Karasin in Prague on October 16.
Trade and humanitarian issues will again become the main topics of the meeting, Abashidze said earlier. The issue of the implementation of the association agreement with the EU will also be touched.
"We have information about the plans for the construction of the car road only from the media so far," the minister said. "The Russian side has not appealed to us with such a proposal. However, it is possible that this issue may be raised at the meeting of Abashidze and Karasin."
Panjikidze said this meeting will be the first after the signing of the association agreement with the EU by Georgia.
"We have not encountered problems in trade and economic relations with Russia so far, and I am sure that they won't emerge in the future, either," Panjikidze said.
On the night of August 8, 2008, military actions were launched on the territory of South Ossetia, Georgia. Later the Russian troops occupied the city and drove back the Georgian military forces. In late August, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In response, Tbilisi broke off diplomatic relations with Moscow and announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories.