Georgia does not intend to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli stated on Thursday.

"We're not going to withdraw from the CIS. The Commonwealth doesn't use all its potential and there is no question about the withdrawal of any countries from it, moreover the dissolution of the CIS," Nogaideli said in an interview with the Echo Moskvy radio station on Thursday.

The Georgian parliament on Tuesday approved a decision to begin discussions from Sunday on the possibility of Georgia's withdrawal from the CIS.

Speaker of the Georgian parliament Nino Burzhanadze Wednesday noted that "this decision does not signify the enactment of a procedure to withdraw from the CIS. It merely lays the beginning for deliberations on this problem".

The speaker also emphasized that the problem of withdrawal from CIS is necessary to be consulted "both with the parliamentary majority and with the president, and then, if needed, to include in the parliament's agenda an item on the opening of this procedure".

Georgia joined the CIS in late 1993. When the leaders of the other 11 CIS states held a meeting in Alma-Ata and declared the foundation of the CIS and the disintegration of the former Soviet Union in December 1991, Georgia was just an observer.

Source: Xinhua