TBILISI, March 7. /TASS/. Another meeting of the Georgian envoy on relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze and Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigori Karasin will take place in Prague on March 16, the Georgian envoy told TASS on Monday.
He said, during the meeting the parties will discuss "traditional for this format detailed issues of cooperation in trade, economy, transport, culture and in the humanitarian sphere."
The meeting will also feature representatives of the foreign ministries and of the economy ministries.
In November 2012, Georgia’s then Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili established a post of "the prime minister’s special envoy for relations with Russia" and appointed Zurab Abashidze, a renowned diplomat and the country’s ambassador to Russia between 2000 and 2004.
On December 14, 2012, Abashidze’s first meeting with Karasin, who is the state secretary and deputy foreign minister, took place in a Geneva suburb, the breakthrough after the cutoff of Russia-Georgia diplomatic ties in 2008.
Later, the senior diplomats held ten meetings in the Czech capital of Prague between 2013 and 2015, with the latest of them on November 19, 2015.
On November 20, the press service of Georgia’s government said that "the latest Prague meeting resulted in concrete agreements, in particular expanding the list of Georgian products presented in the Russian market and increasing haulage capacity."
Moscow recognized as independent two Georgian breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which resulted in the cutoff of Russia-Georgia diplomatic ties. The recognition followed Georgia's attack on South Ossetia that entailed Russia's peacemaking operation in August 2008.
Georgian and Russian top officials have confirmed importance of the Abashidze-Karasin format dialogue. Recently, Georgia’s Prime Minister Georgy Kvirikashvili (appointed December 29, 2015) also spoke for continuing the dialogue in this format.