Session of Russian-Georgian committee on economic cooperation

Moscow will host the 5th session of the Russian-Georgian committee on economic cooperation.

The previous session of the intergovernmental committee was held in December 2000 in Tbilisi, Georgia's embassy in Moscow said. "Both parties try to arrange at least one meeting a year: one in the Russian capital, the next one in the Georgian," a Georgian diplomat said. The current two-year break in the committee's work was caused by "the mess in the personnel issues," he added.

The Russian delegation is headed by minister of industry, science and technology Ilya Klebanov, the Georgian - by state minister of Georgia Avtandil Dzhorbenadze.

The session is expected "to discuss the fulfilment of the 4th session's protocol, and improving of the legal basis for Russian-Georgian cooperation," according to the embassy. The parties will also consider bilateral cooperation in the energy and gas industry.

The current state of the oil pipeline Baku-Dzheykhan may also be touched upon, as well as cooperation in transport and telecommunications spheres. At the end of the session the parties intend to sign two joint documents, an agreement on Russian-Georgian cooperation in tourism and a program of trade and economic cooperation between North Ossetia, a Russian autonomous republic, and the Fkheta-Mtianet district of Georgia.