On June 30, 2016, the Georgian city of Batumi hosted a Russian-Georgian expert meeting titled “Economic Cooperation between Russia and Georgia: Opportunities and Prospects”. The event is sponsored by the Russian International Affairs Council and Georgian International Center of Conflicts and Negotiations (ICСN) with the support of the Human Security Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland. During two days Russian, Georgian and Swiss experts will be discussing economic interaction between Russia and Georgia, including money transfers and trade (current status and future ties), emerging economic challenges of regional scale (DCFTA, EEU and WTO); and European approach to cooperation between Russia and Georgia on the WTO platform.
On June 30, 2016, the Georgian city of Batumi hosted a Russian-Georgian expert meeting titled “Economic Cooperation between Russia and Georgia: Opportunities and Prospects”. The event is sponsored by the Russian International Affairs Council and Georgian International Center of Conflicts and Negotiations (ICСN) with the support of the Human Security Division of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland.
The event was opened by ICCN Board Chairwoman Nina Tsikhistavi-Khutsishvili, RIAC Deputy Program Director Timur Makhmutov and Deputy Head of the Peace Policy Section at FDFA Andrea Bosshard. Mr. Makhmutov underlined the importance of exchanging views on future cooperation in infrastructural, trading and economic projects for building a solid foundation for development of bilateral relations.
During two days Russian, Georgian and Swiss experts will be discussing economic interaction between Russia and Georgia, including money transfers and trade (current status and future ties), emerging economic challenges of regional scale (DCFTA, EEU and WTO); and European approach to cooperation between Russia and Georgia on the WTO platform.
The Russian delegation included Head of the Post-Soviet Countries’ Economic Development Section at the RAS Institute of Economics Elena Kuzmina, Head of Center for Research of International Macroeconomics and Foreign Trade at RAS Institute of Economics Daria Ushkalova, Project Manager of Caucasian Politics website Nikolai Protsenko, President of interregional foundation New Energy Sergey Shimko and RIAC Program Coordinator Alexander Eliseev.
On the event eve, Nikolai Silayev, Director of non-profit organization Caucasian Cooperation and Senior Researcher of Center for Caucasus and Regional Stability at MGIMO, was rejected entry in Georgia, with no explanations from Georgian authorities. Mr. Silayev is the author of many publications on Russian-Georgian relations, who has been consistently supporting the bilateral dialogue despite political frictions. We express our regret that such actions overshadow the positive dynamics in restoring the relations between Russia and Georgia. We do hope it was an isolated incident, and the bilateral relationship experts could freely visit Georgia with no restrictions imposed.
Day one of the event was devoted to a detailed discussion of Russia-Georgia energy cooperation, the export and import potential of the Russian Southern Federal District, transportation and logistical opportunities for strengthening the contacts, and future bilateral ties in view of economic integration.
The results of the event will be summarized in a policy brief on Russia-Georgia economic relations to be published in the joint RIAC-ICСN reader in the first semester of 2017.
Expert meeting “Economic Cooperation between Russia and Georgia: Opportunities and Prospects”
