Natia Turnava: 'Resuming flights between Russia and Georgia would be a positive development for our market'

The Minister of Economy and Sustainable development, Natia Turnava spoke with journalists after the Government meeting on September 30 and discussed the possibility of resuming flights between Russia and Georgia.

According to the Minister, even though the government has been trying its best to support the tourism industry and hotels as much as possible, the negative trend has not yet been overcome.

"I, as the Minister of Economy, can confirm, and it is now clear from the statistics that the suspension of Russian flights has seriously affected us. Not to mention too many figures, National Bank data shows that there is still a decline in incoming money from international travelers. This means that although we have supported our tourism industry and especially small hotels and guesthouses as much as we could, this negative trend has not yet been overcome and we hope we will be able to overcome it in the future. Therefore, if flights resume in the near future, this will be a clear, positive signal and a positive development for our market. Keep in mind that as the winter season approaches, our mountain resorts are awaiting tourists, including Russian tourists. Therefore, it will be a very positive development and support especially for small and family hotels. Everything that will benefit our economy, promote our tourism and benefit individual families and small businesses are good for us,” said Natia Turnava.

The Russian side commented as well. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergei Lavrov, spoke with the Russian publication, Kommersant and said that he is in favor of resuming flight between Russia and Georgia.

“I would probably resume these flights. I think this will be right after the majority of the population of Georgia has realized the counter-productivity of the provocative turnaround that took place in the Georgian Parliament Inter-Orthodox Parliamentary Assembly was taking place. Opposition parties then severely thwarted the measure and then blamed Russia for taking steps that it believed had launched a rampant campaign. But there was nothing but an agreed procedure that stopped a group of raging people with pre-prepared posters. They were doing it deliberately, because of the Russian hysteria in the hall. I have always supported friendship with Georgia,” stated Sergei Lavrov in the interview.

Sergei Lavrov recently met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, David Zalkaliani. The two met within the framework of 74th UN General Assembly. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, the two sides discussed the occupation of Georgian territories, the current security environment, and developments in the occupied territories, as well as issues concerning Georgia-Russia relations.