Georgia says no to Russia

Georgia's Vice Prime Minister Giorgi Baramidze Chicago – Jamal al-Majayda Georgia's Vice Prime Minister Giorgi Baramidze, affirmed that his country will not will not restore diplomatic relations with Russia. He said in an interview in Chicago, on the sidelines of the summit of the leaders of NATO and their partners on 20-22 May, that his country rejects restoring diplomatic relations with Russia in light of the occupation of the latter of a part of Georgia. He was referring to the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, stressing the need of solving the conflicts between the two countries in a peaceful manner based on the respect of the principles, sovereignty and independence of his country. Russian-Georgian relations have deteriorated since the outbreak of the armed conflict between the two in August 2008 due to the dispute over the two regions. Georgia returned to take control of the regions by force, and as a result Russia interfered militarily and forced the Georgian troops to retreat. Moscow then declared in 2009 that it recognised the independence of the two regions  and established embassies there. However, Baramidze pointed out that the Russian occupation of about 20 percent of Georia does not hinder the continuation of economic growth and the development of industry and tourism. The Russian forces in the two regions are under the title of being 'conflict separation forces', a fact which Georgia disputes and considers an occupation. He added that the economic issues there are normal, to the extent that the World Bank commended the economic reforms in Georgia, especially in the fields of property laws, taxes, and foreign investments protection. On the issue of joining Nato, he said: “It is a matter of time, but we should take steps to acquire membership,” expecting full accession to NATO by 2015 at the latest. He also commended NATO's position and its decisive language on the dispute with Russia, as well as its respect of Georigia’s sovereignty over its territories. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, had announced on the sidelines of the conference, of Georgia’s decision to participate in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) stationed in Afghanistan, which will offset the shortage that will take place upon the withdrawal of French troops. Baramidze said that Ukraine has agreed with Georgia to transfer Azerbaijani gas through its territory, and an agreement has been signed in this regard. Ukraine is now working on building a plant for the liquefied gas with a capacity of 10 billion cubic metres, in order to store the gas that it intends to import from Azerbaijan and other countries. Ukraine is  seeking to reduce its dependence on high  Russian gas prices. Baramidze said that Georgia is one of the strongest and fastest developing economies in the region, as it has succeeded in recent years to draw foreign investments through facilitating transactions, and reducing fees and taxes. It is also one of the members of the Guam Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development, along with its counterparts Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova.