Saakashvili: Increase of Gas Price is Political Pressure

President Saakashvili said on December 28 that Georgia should be able ?to promptly re-orientate its economy and get access to the new foreign markets? against the background of persisting economic pressure from Russia.

?Russia has kept its threats: gas price has been doubled and import of tangerine [from Georgia] has been banned? We should not be afraid of this kind of pressure,? Mikheil Saakashvili said.

?We are now sure that doubling of gas price by Russia was nothing more than a political pressure. We are now sure that this [increase of gas price from current USD 63 for 1000 cubic meter to USD 110] was not economically motivated,? he added.

Saakashvili was speaking at the meeting with the Georgian business circles in Tbilisi. The meeting aimed at attraction of donations from the business community to open more free canteens for socially vulnerable people.

?If we want to have a modern economy we should be capable of re-orienting our economy and getting access to new markets,? the President said.

He said that the Georgian authorities did everything to gain access to the Ukrainian and Kazakh markets.