Tbilisi, Oct. 19 (Interfax) - Georgia does not plan to join either the CIS free trade agreement or a Eurasian union, Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze said at a news conference on Wednesday in commenting on the signing of a CIS free trade agreement in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
"Georgia’s position is clear: all sovereign states are entitled to set up a political or economic organization or a union. As for the so-called common customs area, or a Eurasian union, or any other organization set up under the Russian Federation’s auspices, Georgia has no desire or plans to join it," Vashadze said.
"Georgia is actively working together with its friends on becoming a full member of NATO and the European Union, the organizations whose values and principles fully meet Georgia’s goals and aspirations," he said.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in early October that the Customs Union and the common economic area being set up by Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia could in the future serve as the basis for establishing a Eurasian union.
Georgia withdrew from the CIS on Aug. 19, 2009, although it remains a participant in a number of multilateral agreements concluded within the CIS framework, which are not conditioned by CIS membership.
Georgia has free trade agreements with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine and Russia and is working toward setting up such free trade agreements with Belarus, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
