Meetings and Discussions

   

Roundtable Discussion of Russian and Georgian Experts

On October 30th, 2016 the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies organized a confidence-building meeting of project participants and a roundtable discussion for the experts in the framework of the project "Georgian and Russian Experts Searching Ways for Normalisation".

The project participants discussed the wide range of topics related to the Russian-Georgian relations including: main political developments in their respective countries, parliamentary elections in Georgia, Russian Duma elections, implications from internal and external policies, Georgia’s European aspirations: progress on visa liberalization and AA implementation, Russia-Ukraine crisis, the outcome of the Normandy contact group meeting, Russian-Turkish rapprochement and implications for Syria and South Caucasus.

The second event "Georgia and Russia: Status of Relations, Problems, Perspectives" organized in the scope of the abovementioned project was a roundtable discussion for more than 20 Georgian and Russian experts. The welcome address was delivered by Amb. Zurab Abashidze, Special Representative of the Prime Minister of Georgia for Relations with Russia and Julia Bläesius, Director FES South Caucasus.  

The panels of the roundtable included various aspects related to Georgia and Russia: political relations, economy as well as conflicts and regional stability.   

The group of experts, together with the Special Representative of the Prime Minister of Georgia for Russian Issues -Amb. Zurab Abashidze, also discussed the trade and cultural aspect of Russia-Georgia relations as well as common interests on regional and international level.

The project aims to raise confidence between Georgian and Russian experts, identify ways for further normalization of Russia-Georgia relations through experts' contributions as well as to assist the existing formats of consultations between the parties to receive the new momentum.

The project is funded by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).