Zurab Abashidze and Grigory Karasin to Meet in Prague

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and Special Representative of the Georgian Prime Minister for Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze will meet in Prague on June 13.

According to Karasin, during the talks, the sides will primarily discuss trade, humanitarian contacts and 2011 agreement on customs monitoring.

The Prime Minister's Special Representative says that although the format does not include, at the meetings with Karasin he always rises up the issues such as human rights violations in occupied regions, militarization and the violation of territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia.

As Karasin told the agency TASS, in addition to traditional issues, they will also talk about other important spheres.

"I mean both the trade and the sphere of agriculture because as you know, the fight against the stink bug is still relevant," Karasin said.

On December 14, 2012, Abashidze’s first meeting with Karasin took place in a Geneva suburb, a breakthrough after the cutoff of Russia-Georgia diplomatic ties in 2008. Tbilisi and Moscow stated many times that the meetings in this format have produced positive results in restoring cooperation.

Photo: Georgian Service of RFERL

By Ana Dumbadze