TBILISI, November 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russia must fulfill the obligations it made to Georgia as part of talks on its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and Tbilisi will, in turn, make no further demands, the Georgian prime minister said Monday.
Zurab Nogaideli said Russia, which is currently negotiating a protocol on WTO accession with the United States, should conduct its trade relations with Georgia through its official checkpoints.
"In 2004, we agreed with Russia that we [Georgia] will support Russia's accession to the WTO, and that Russia, in turn, will conduct trade and economic relations with Georgia through its official checkpoints," Nogaideli said.
Georgia has long been pressuring Russia, which has common borders with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, to conduct trade with the two Georgian breakaway republics through Georgian trade checkpoints, and not directly, as it does now.
Nogaideli added that Georgia has insisted on the implementation of this provision, and that it would never change its position.
"We insist on the observance of this agreement and do not intend to forward any further demands, although much has changed since 2004," the prime minister said.
Earlier Monday, Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref said a bilateral agreement with the U.S. on Russia's accession to the WTO could be signed by the two countries' leaders at an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam November 18-19.
Georgia and Moldova remain stumbling blocks to Russia's WTO bid.
Russia has yet to secure approval for its accession from Georgia and Moldova, energy-dependent former Soviet allies with whom it is locked in an ongoing diplomatic feud over breakaway regions, and Georgia has threatened to block Russia's entry.
Georgia withdrew its signature from a protocol on Russia's WTO accession bid in July, until, it said, Russia changed its "discriminatory" customs regime on Georgian exports. Moscow said the move was more a matter of politics rather than economics.
Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi deteriorated further in a tit-for-tat conflict following a spying row in late September.
Moldova is also concerned about its exports of wine and agricultural products to Russia, as well as the value-added tax it pays for Russian natural gas
