EU supports Georgia’s private sector through DCFTA

The European Union (EU) is supporting Georgia’s small businesses to ensure they enjoy benefits from the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement.

In this regard, the EU Delegation to Georgia and the country’s Ministry of Economy brought together local businesses and banks, business support organisations, Government officials, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a roundtable discussion to learn about the support needs of small, local businesses.

The roundtable took place on October 2, where the participants learnt about the findings and recommendations of the recently completed study ‘EU Support to the Private Sector in the context of Association Agreements/DCFTAs’.

The discussion provided an opportunity to address the opportunities and challenges constraining Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), including business development costs and availability of finance.

The EU stands together with Small and Medium Enterprises in Georgia, who will play a vital role in making the DCFTA a success. With time this will bring about genuine changes for businesses and provide new opportunities to hundreds of thousands of Georgians,” said Ambassador of the EU to Georgia Janos Herman.

It was believed the DCFTA agreement, which was part of the country’s Association Agreement (AA) with the EU, would help SMEs to seize new trade opportunities with the EU and improve access to finance, enabling SMEs to make necessary investments to increase their competitiveness and to comply with new standards.

Georgia’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Dimitri Kumsishvili said: "We highly value EU support in implementation of the DCFTA. We attach great importance to effective implementation of the DFCTA and follow our reform agenda.

Support to business and especially SMEs development and enhancement of its competitiveness is very important especially in DCFTA context. We are working on SMEs Development Strategy, which will support further improvement of business environment and boost SMEs growth and competitiveness,” he said.

Georgia signed its AA, which includes the DCFTA, on June 27, 2014.