Economy Minister says Gulf economy has “great potential" for cooperation with Georgia

Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili on Thursday said the economy of Persian Gulf states had a “great potential" for cooperation with Georgia, in his comments on the ongoing visit of a Georgian Government delegation to Saudi Arabia.

Georgian Public Broadcaster cited Davitashvili on noting “high-level” visits of Government delegations to Gulf states throughout the year - including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates - and the current meetings with Saudi officials, which he said had reviewed “many directions” of economic cooperation, including in tourism, investments, trade and energy.

• Georgian PM starts official visit to Saudi Arabia

Davitashvili noted about 200,000 tourists had visited Georgia from Saudi Arabia, and highlighted more than 40 flights connecting passengers between the countries.

He also revealed ongoing work on a deal for trade liberalisation as well as promotion and protection of investments, saying the agreement would be an “important prerequisite to encourage investments from Saudi Arabia". 

Our expectation is that we will have investors from Saudi Arabia in flagship projects of renewable energy [and in] important strategic projects that increase [Georgia’s] connectivity with Europe", Davitashvili said.

The Minister pointed out the prime ministers of the two countries had decided to create joint working groups in various sectors, tasked to report to them twice a year about practical results from the cooperation stemming from the ongoing visit.