Tbilisi, Moscow Agree to Intensify Talks

Georgia and Russia agreed to intensify negotiations over the complex of problematic issues, which currently top the agenda in the bilateral ties, within the next two months, Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili and her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov said at a joint news conference in Tbilisi on February 18.

The both Ministers outlined six following issues, which will be negotiated by the separate expert groups of the two countries in next two months:

Comprehensive framework agreement;
Terms and timeframe of pullout of Russian military bases from Georgia;
Setting up of the joint anti-terrorist center;
Delimitation of the Russo-Georgian border;
Conflict resolution issues;
Easing visa requirements.

?We need a concrete, real results and not just results on papers? We should report our President about the results of the work [on the level of experts] within next two months. Then, on May 9 [60th anniversary of Victory in World War II] Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili will visit Moscow and meet [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin,? Salome Zourabichvili said.

Sergey Lavrov said that during the visit the sides could agree on ?key directions? and also reiterated that the talks will be intensified towards the six issues outlined above.