Yerevan /Mediamax/. Within the next few months, Russia is planning to sign a contract with SGS (Switzerland), the company that will conduct monitoring in the frames of implementation of the Russian-Georgian agreement on customs administration and monitoring of trade in goods.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigory Karasin said this in the interview to Kommersant newspaper.

“We will try to complete the national procedures as soon as possible in order to sign the papers within the next few months. After that the agreement will come into force,” said Karasin.

We have selected an excerpt from the interview, which you can read below.

- Do I understand correctly that Armenia will be the main beneficiary of this agreement? Is Moscow doing this not so much for Russia as for Armenia, by Yerevan’s request?

- Armenia did make the corresponding request, but this is a strictly bilateral agreement between Russia and Georgia, reached with assistance from Switzerland. It entails no obligations for a third party, naturally, including the republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”

Foreign Policy | 2018-01-15 10:39:36

Abashidze talks prospects of transport coridors through Abkhazia and South Ossetia

It is worth noticing that Special Representative of the Prime Minister of Georgia for relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze stated on January 15:

“In 2011 Georgia and Russia signed the Agreement on Basic Principles for a Mechanism of Customs Administration and Monitoring of Trade in Goods, for the implementation of which the sides agreed on inviting a neutral Swiss company. After a long preparatory period, the Georgian side signed a contract with Swiss representatives in December last year. Now it is Russia’s turn to finalize a similar contract, which will be followed by the implementation of this extraordinary deal.”