TBILISI, DFWatch – Christian Democrat leader Giorgi Targamadze says that improving relations with Russia is crucial to Georgia’s economic development.

The statement came during a debate in parliament Friday about the government’s ’10 point plan’, a debate his party had called for.

Targamadze said, if investments are the most important factor for the country’s economic development, then providing security and stability should be the government’s main concern. But this issue is not even mentioned in the ten-point plan.

According to him, the free industrial zone in Poti is not functioning today, because there are Russian tanks standing a few kilometers away.

“If your goal is to attract more investments, then we should achieve a stabilization of the relations with aggressive neighbors and minimize the risk for investors. And not the opposite, as you and the media created hysteria when Patriarch visited Russia. We have put this person in an awkward situation and this hysteria is unacceptable for the goals, which foresees creating security guarantees for the investors,” Targamadze said.

According to him, the negotiations about a Russian WTO membership has opened new opportunities to enter the Russian market. Targamadze calls for the government not to intervene in Georgian businesses, but instead secure them access to the market of an enemy country.