TBILISI, November 22 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia and Russia are holding a new round of talks in Geneva on Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization, the Georgian economics ministry said on Thursday.
Tbilisi withdrew its signature from a bilateral WTO agreement with Moscow shortly after a diplomatic row between the two former Soviet republics almost a year ago.
The ministry said Georgia's position remains unchanged: the South Caucasus country will cease to block Russia's bid to join the WTO only after Moscow honors its 2004 commitment to close down its border checkpoints with Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Russia has been seeking WTO membership since the early 1990s, and needs to complete bilateral talks with WTO members that still have trade disagreements with Moscow, and must conclude multilateral discussions within the WTO Working Party of 50 nations.
