Shevardnadze vows full backing for Russian investments

Eduard Shevardnadze will see to the carrying out of the work of the joint Georgian-Russian group of businessmen that is to shepherd the implementation of Russian investments in Georgia. This was announced at a press conference in the Georgian State Chancellory by Vakhtang Rcheulishvili, the Georgia deputy speaker, who is one of the organizers of the Georgia-Russia Business Forum, after Shevardnadze met with forum participants.

This means, the deputy speaker said, that Shevardnadze himself will guarantee Russian investment projects in Georgia. At the present stage, Rcheulishvili stated, those investments amount to tens of millions of dollars but they soon will involve billions of dollars, he said. It has also been decided to create, on the basis of the Chambers of Trade and Industry of Georgia and Russia, an arbitrage court for the protection of investments and a special judicial service.

Rcheulishvili quoted Shevardnadze as saying in his meeting with the Russian and Georgian business people: 'The problems in Georgian-Russian relations will be fully settled when the economic soil is prepared.' The deputy speaker expressed confidence that the forum had played a historic role in the relations between the two countries. 'The forum marked the end of the 10-year-long cold war between Georgia and Russia,' he emphasized.