Georgia and Russia, talking again

According to this report, Russia and Georgia are talking again about Moscow’s bid to finally join the World Trade Organization. The first round of talks with Georgia on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization was "constructive" and negotiations will be continued, Grigory Karasin, a deputy Russian foreign minister, said Tuesday. "Russia is not only ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

According to this report, Russia and Georgia are talking again about Moscow's bid to finally join the World Trade Organization.

According to this report, Russia and Georgia are talking again about Moscow’s bid to finally join the World Trade Organization.

The first round of talks with Georgia on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization was "constructive" and negotiations will be continued, Grigory Karasin, a deputy Russian foreign minister, said Tuesday.

"Russia is not only ready, Russia is continuing the talks," Karasin told journalists, adding that the next round has been scheduled for a later time. He did not specify the date.

The talks resumed on Thursday in Switzerland after being suspended for almost three years.

Georgia, as a current WTO member, could theoretically block Russia’s accession, since decisions on new members are normally taken by consensus. Nobody thinks this will happen, but the dynamic does give Georgia a moment of apparent leverage. The question will be how well Georgia plays its hand in the coming weeks and months; its demands must be plausible to major players like the United States and the European Union, which are eager to see Russia join the trade body and won’t have much patience for obstructionism.   

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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