IDS Borjomi International said on December 20, that it was in talks with the Russian authorities regarding the possibility of return of Georgian mineral water, Borjomi, on the Russian market next year.

IDS Borjomi International, headquartered in Kiev and owned by a private equity and investment management firm Salford Capital Partners Inc., represents a group of enterprises producing bottled mineral waters in Russia, Ukraine and Georgia. IDS Borjomi Georgia, formerly Georgian Glass & Mineral Waters Company, is the group’s Georgian subsidiary, which owns ‘Borjomi’ trademark and which holds an exclusive right for extraction and production of Borjomi mineral waters.

IDS Borjomi International said in a statement on its website that its director general, Vladimir Ashurov, met on December 14 with chief of Russia's consumer protection agency, RosPotrebNadzor, Gennady Onishchenko, to discuss possibility of resumption of export of Borjomi mineral water to the Russian market in 2012.

“RosPotrebNadzor is ready to consider IDS Borjomi International's proposals regarding Borjomi Georgian mineral water supply renewal in case all the existing Russian and international legislation will be observed. Company was offered to perform a number of formal requirements for entering the Russian market at this stage of negotiations,” IDS Borjomi International said, adding that it was ready to take all the necessary steps and actions to meet all the requirements.

IDS Borjomi International first announced about having talks with the RosPotrebNadzor in September, 2011.

Borjomi mineral water is currently exported to about thirty countries, according IDS Borjomi International.

Russia banned import of Georgian mineral waters and wine in 2006 citing consumer safety concerns – the move which the the Georgian leadership says was part of Moscow’s embargo, which has failed to meet its goal of undermining Georgia’s economy.