European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on November 3, that EU welcomes “the announcement that an agreement has been reached” in the Swiss-mediated talks between Tbilisi and Moscow on Russia’s WTO accession.

“The EU in this regard, appreciates the flexibility shown by both Georgia and Russia to find a compromise on a highly complex issue and encourages both parties to overcome the very last technical hurdles in order to formalize the deal,” Barroso said in a statement.

He also said that Russia’s WTO accession would be “to everyone’s advantage.”

“We will also continue our important work towards political association and economic integration with Georgia, including to form a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area,” Barroso said.

EU has yet to announce when it will launch talks on deep and comprehensive free trade agreement with Georgia. The Georgian officials were hoping the talks to be launched before the end of this year.
 
The EU has also praised “the hard work, persistence and creativity of Switzerland in their mediation effort between the parties.”

“The EU stands ready to contribute to the implementation of the agreement if requested to do so by the parties,” Barroso said.

“The EU now looks forward to seeing Russia’s WTO accession finalised with a view to reaching a consensus decision at the WTO Ministerial Council meeting on 15-17 December in Geneva,” he added.