Georgia promised Wednesday not to block Russia's entry to the global trade body if Moscow fulfils its 2004 commitments to close down checkpoints on its border with the separatist provinces.
"After entering the WTO, Russia, as a member of the organization, will honor all its commitments to Georgia," Maxim Medvedkov, director for trade negotiations at the Russian economics ministry, told a briefing at the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi.
"We will try to persuade our Georgian colleagues that the country stands to profit from Russia's membership in the WTO."
At the current talks, the former Soviet allies are expected to focus on a dispute over Russian customs control points in the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgia's economics ministry said earlier.
Medvedkov said that although Russia has already reached bilateral agreements with 58 countries for its WTO bid, several issues remain to be discussed multilaterally.
The diplomat rejected reports that Russia has imposed an embargo against Georgia. "There is no embargo, and our countries are developing bilateral relations, even though trade has fallen," Medvedkov said.
"We want to make it clear to Georgia that the sooner Russia joins the WTO, the more active our economic ties will develop, allowing us to share a unified economic space."
The WTO currently has 150 members, with Vietnam being the latest to join the organization, in January 2007.
