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Georgia, China sign historic Free Trade Agreement

Free Trade Deal between Georgia and China has been finalised in "a record-breaking time of seven months”. Photo by the Ministry of Economy's press office
Agenda.ge, 13 May 2017 - 20:59, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgian wine, mineral waters and agricultural products will soon be exported to China and its market of 1.4 billion consumers, with zero tariffs, without additional customs fees and without any transition period.

The final Free Trade Agreement between Georgia and China has been finalised in "a record-breaking time of seven months” today making Georgia the first country in the region to have such an agreement with China.

In recent years Georgia has forged strong ties with China through bilateral trade and economic cooperation with Georgian wine as one of the most promising exported products to China.

Already this year Georgia exported 3.5 million bottles of wine to China – a 158 percent increase year-on-year, said the Government of Georgia. Photo by Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Georgia and China began discussing the possibility of establishing a free trade regime back in September 2015, however, the Memorandum on finalising a Free Trade Agreement that is coming into play today was signed in October 2016.

So far Georgia has free trade deals with Turkey, European Union (EU), European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries - Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein - and with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.