Eduard Shevardnadze for strengthening Russian-Georgian border through joint efforts - 7 October, 2002

It is necessary to strengthen the Russian-Georgian border through joint efforts so that "criminals and crime should not have a chance to penetrate either from the side of Russia, or from the side of Georgia". As a RIA Novosti correspondent reports, president of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze stated this to journalists after his meeting with Vladimir Putin.

He noted that "the frontier services have a great reserve".

As Shevardnadze said, the accord to firmly and finally put an end to such a phenomenon as terrorism was reached at the October 6 meeting. He said that the decision "to appoint corresponding special representatives who will continually tackle the outstanding problems", specifically those relating to the struggle against terrorism, had been taken.

Eduard Shevardnadze noted that the October 6 meeting with Vladimir Putin "is of fundamental importance for the peoples of the two countries". "This marks the beginning of a good turning point in mutual relations between the two states", the president said.