Swiss, Georgian Presidents to Meet in Batumi
After talks in Russia on Sunday, Swiss President and Foreign Minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, will meet with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Batumi on Monday, Nino Kalandadze, the Georgian deputy foreign minister, said on October 31.
Top Kremlin aide said after meeting between Russian and Swiss presidents on Sunday that Moscow wanted to “clarify” some of the issues in the proposal tabled by the Swiss mediators and accepted by Georgia last week about Russia’s WTO entry terms.
According to the Georgian officials the Swiss proposal envisages deployment of international monitors from a private company at the both ends of so called "trade corridors" – reference to the breakaway regions, but not inside these regions. Trade corridors will be defined by their geographic coordinates not by names in an attempt to keep a status-neutral approach. A contractor company will be hired by a neutral third party, according to the Georgian side.
Initially Georgia wanted to have its customs officers on the Abkhaz and South Ossetian sections of its border with Russia; then it was pushing for having international monitors, preferably from the EU.
“Georgia has done everything to allow Russia to join WTO and in fact Georgia made lots of compromises,” Nino Kalandadze said.