PM's former Russia envoy: more exports, including to Russia, will benefit country

Zurab Abashidze, the former Special Representative of the Georgian Prime Minister in Relations with Russia, on Monday said more domestic products being exported to countries, including Russia, would benefit the country.

Abashidze said Georgia was fulfilling obligations related to enforcing the international sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

But the trade is going on, [and] there is quite a lot of volume [...] There are risks, of course [...] These risks require a lot of attention because many Georgian companies are involved in these trade relations. The most important thing is that our foreign trade is diversified. Russia’s share in general trade turnover is somewhere around 11.2 percent”, he added.

Abashidze said the trade balance of Georgia had been “completely disrupted” in 2010, after the Russian Government enacted an embargo on the country.

Import from Russia was 10 times more than export from Georgia. This is after Russia introduced an embargo against Georgia. Later, Russia became a member of the World Trade Organisation and took some responsibilities. In accordance with these obligations and in general, with our efforts, it was possible to more or less balance trade”, he said.

The official noted exports had reached $34 million in 2010, and added the current largest trading partner of Georgia was the European Union market.

The official said Georgia’s trade turnover with the EU was “three times higher than with any other country”, with Turkey in second and Russia in third.