Russia is ready to cooperate with Georgian business on wine and water supplies after a two-year import ban, Russia's chief sanitary official said on Thursday.

Russia, the main importer of Georgia's produce up to 2008, closed its borders to Georgian wines over the producers' alleged failure to meet food safety regulations, in particular wine containing pesticides and heavy metals. A major Georgian mineral water, Borjomi, was barred from the country in 2006, also over safety concerns, and was soon joined by another brand, Nabeglavi.

"We are ready to consider their [Georgian businessmen's] proposals, we are ready to cooperate with them," Gennady Onishchenko told journalists.

"It is a difficult process but it should begin," he added.

Onishchenko said that while Russia "views Georgia's government with skepticism," Georgian businessmen should create order and national control.

"If professional [businessmen] appear and say... let's start the process, we will gladly greet that," he went on.

Onishchenko also said Georgian businessmen need to admit they are unable "to produce 10 times more than they actually can, including exclusive wine that Josef Stalin and his circle drank."

VNUKOVO (Moscow Region), May 27 (RIA Novosti)