Georgia, Turkey look to widen free trade agreement

Georgia and Turkey are taking actions to widen the existing free trade agreement between them and enable Georgian producers to increase export volume to Turkey.

These issues were the main topics of discussion at the meeting between Georgia’s Economy Minister Giorgi Gakharia and his Turkish counterpart Nihat Zeybekçi.

The meeting was held in Istanbul, Turkey where Gakharia arrived yesterday to attend the 22nd World Petroleum Congress (WPC) which is being be held between July 9-13.

Economy Minister Gakharia also met he Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yıldırım. Photo by Georgia's Ministry of Economy. 

Gakharia has already met the Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yıldırım. The meeting was held yesterday, where the officials talked about the trade-economic relations between the countries.

The same topic was discussed today at the meeting with Turkish Economy Minister.

Gakharia highlighted the potential to increase exports and imports and further liberalise trade within the free trade agreement.

The Georgian Minister also emphasised the importance of the declaration on the establishment of the Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO), which was signed in May 2017 during PM Yıldırım’s visit to Tbilisi, Georgia.

Gakharia stated the declaration was another step forward for further developing economic relations with Turkey.

Turkey is Georgia’s top trade partner, statistics show.

From January-May of 2017, Turkey was responsible for 15 percent of Georgia’s trade turnover.

During the same period, the export of Georgian products to Turkey increased by 17 percent and generated $97.1 million.