Minister: No Sense in CIS for Georgia

Georgian Vice-Premier Giorgi Baramidze, who also is State Minister for European Integration Issues, said on May 25 that “Georgia finds no sense” in staying in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Interfax news agency reported.
 
“No decision has been made yet [regarding withdrawal from the CIS], but Mikheil Saakashvili [Georgian President] instructed the government to study the expediency of Georgia’s presence in the CIS,” Baramidze told reporters in Dushanbe, where he participated in a meeting of the Heads of Governments from the CIS on May 25.
 
Baramidze also said that Georgia pinned hopes on the CIS regarding settlement of conflicts and boosting the economic ties, however “finally, everything turned out to the contrary for Georgia.”
 
Currently, a special commission led by Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli is studying possible consequences of Georgia’s withdrawing from the organization.