TBILISI, July 22. /TASS/. Former Georgian parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze has said Wednesday it is high time to launch direct political dialogue between Russian and Georgian authorities.
"The time has come to use possibilities for a complicated, but important dialogue with the aim of settling relations with Russia," Burdzhanadze said adding that "solution of Georgia’s most important problems is impossible without this dialogue." "Direct political dialogue with Russia on looking for ways to normalize the relations between the two countries is necessary," she stressed.
Burdzhanadze, who visited Moscow recently, said she "was told that Russia’s high-ranking officials are ready to hold meetings with Georgian counterparts."
Georgian Premier Irakli Garibashvili told a newspaper in Tbilisi in June that Georgia will "regulate its relationship with Russia through constructive and pragmatic dialogue." "Relations with our neighbor country needed adjusting so more than two years ago, Georgia started direct talks with Russia," Garibashvili said.
The first meeting between Zurab Abashidze, the Georgian prime minister’s envoy for relations with Russia, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin took place in Geneva in 2012. The latest round took place in February and the next is scheduled for July.
"We succeeded in recovery and development of economic relations with Russia and won access to the Russian market, which is important for our county," Premier Garibashvili said. "We will continue Russian-Georgian dialogue to reach accordance in all spheres," he added.