Russian, Georgian envoys to meet in Prague in mid-March

TBILISI, February 24. /TASS/. A next meeting of Zurab Abashidze, the Georgian prime minister’s special envoy for relations with Russia, and Grigory Karasin, the Russian deputy foreign minister, will take place in Prague in the middle of March, Abashidze confirmed to reporters on Wednesday. At the meeting "concrete issues of cooperation in trade, economy, transport, culture and humanitarian contacts, which are traditional for this format" are expected to be on the table, he said. Senior diplomats and economic officials of the two countries will attend the meeting in Prague as the last year’s meetings. In November 2012, Georgia’s then Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili established a post of "the prime minister’s special envoy for relations with Russia" and appointed Zurab Abashidze, a renowned diplomat and the country’s ambassador to Russia between 2000 and 2004. On December 14, 2012, Abashidze’s first meeting with Karasin, who is the state secretary and deputy foreign minister, took place in a Geneva suburb, the breakthrough after the cutoff of Russia-Georgia diplomatic ties in 2008. Later, the senior diplomats held ten meetings in the Czech capital of Prague between 2013 and 2015, with the latest of them on November 19, 2015. On November 20, the press service of Georgia’s government said that "the latest Prague meeting resulted in concrete agreements, in particular expanding the list of Georgian products presented in the Russian market and increasing haulage capacity." Moscow recognized as independent two Georgian breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which resulted in the cutoff of Russia-Georgia diplomatic ties. The recognition followed Georgia's attack on South Ossetia that entailed Russia's peacemaking operation in August 2008. Read more