Georgia and China begin talks on free trade

Georgia and China are looking to deepen trade and economic cooperation at next week's Georgia-China free trade negotiations.

A delegation representing Georgian will visit China and attend the economic commission session in China on December 9-10.

Georgia will be the first country in the region to sign this type of agreement with China.

The economic commission session will be held in China [and] one of the main issues discussed will be transportation of Chinese cargo through Georgia. The Anaklia port project will also be considered. In addition, free trade talks must be launched,” said Georgia’s Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili.

The decision to begin talks on free trade was made during negotiations between Georgia's Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang when they met in September this year.

The friendly relations between Georgia and China were noticeable since more Chinese companies expressed interest in investing in Georgia. Meanwhile, not only the business community but Chinese tourists were also more aware and interested in Georgia, statistics showed.

Recently China has become one of Georgia's closest economic partners. In 2014 the trade volume between the two countries increased by 28 percent, official figures revealed.

Adjusted figures released by the National Statistics Office of Georgia, Geostat, reveal Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in Georgia for the year 2014 amounted to $1.758 billion USD.

The share of FDIs by major investor countries mostly came from the Netherlands (21 percent) followed by Azerbaijan (19 percent) and China (12 percent).