Georgian PM Says Ready for Result-Oriented Talks with Russian Leader
PM Irakli Garibashvili said he’s ready for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin if such a meeting would aim at producing tangible results.
President Vladimir Putin said during his annual news conference on December 18, when asked if there is a possibility for a meeting of Georgian and Russian leaders, that Russia would be “glad” to welcome Georgian leadership in Moscow for talks if Tbilisi deems it possible.
“We are ready, in principle we have a readiness to hold such a meeting,” the Georgian PM told journalists in town of Samtredia, western Georgia, when asked to comment on Putin’s remarks.
“But when, in what format and how it [the meeting] will be held – it has to be well-prepared and analyzed,” Garibashvili continued. “I think holding meeting just for the sake of meeting is wrong. The meeting should aim at reaching a concrete result; in that case we are ready for such meeting. The Georgian government, which is a decision-maker, and personally I, will take part in such a meeting.”
Georgian PM’s special representative for relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze, said on December 18 that any possible high-level talks with Russia should be result-oriented, aimed at gradual solving of “main problematic” issues in the bilateral relations, related to breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
According to the Georgian Foreign Ministry no efforts are currently underway to prepare high-level talks between the two countries.