AlHijjah 7, 1432, Nov 3, 2011, SPA -- Russia and Georgia, opponents in a 2008 war, are moving closer to agreement in a dispute over Moscow's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), dpa quoted Russian Interfax news agency as reporting on Thursday. Swiss mediation between the two sides at talks in Geneva has produced a tentative compromise on the most controversial issue: the trade status of two breakaway Georgian territories that Russia has recognized as independent states, but which Tbilisi and most of the international community consider to be part of Georgia. A Swiss compromise offer has suggested that a private company - rather than government customs agents - monitor trade, and collect excise on goods moving to or from the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the report said. Abkhazia and South Ossetia formally declared independence from Georgia after the Russo-Georgian war of 2008. Tbilisi lost effective control over the territories in the mid-1990s. Any WTO member may veto a membership application by a non-WTO member. Russian and Georgian negotiators had been at odds over whether, if Russia joined the WTO, trade linked with Abkhazia and South Ossetia should be considered as involving a pair of Georgian provinces, or two independent states. Russian negotiator Maksim Medvedev said the two sides had reached tentative agreement on the compromise offer, allowing detailed questions to be resolved later in November, so Russia could actually join the WTO in December, according to Interfax. "Russia apparently wants to sign the compromise variant of Switzerland, which we have already agreed to," said Georgia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kapanadze from Tbilisi, according to Interfax. The Swiss proposal reportedly suggests the creation of three trade routes to be monitored by international observers, and the electronic exchange of information.
