“The free trade agreement with the European Union [DCFTA] cannot be a panacea and will not make a miracle, if reform is not carried out in the economy,” Irina Guruli, Director of Economic Policy Research Center, told BMGTV.
"Yes, exports growth from Georgia to the EU is small and we can talk about the reasons... The fact that we have a free trade agreement would not allow Georgian entrepreneurs to quickly transfer their products to a more competitive market... DCFTA will not make a miracle if the economy is not reformed and we do not have the appropriate quantity and quality of goods.
Along with the free trade agreement with the EU, reforms should be carried out in the economy, which would have allowed Georgia to join the value chain, that is, not only sell products to the European market, but also attract European investments. In short, European investors should have been interested in doing business in Georgia, which did not work out and will not work out in the conditions we are in now.
We look at DCFTA as an investment instrument... At least because of this, Georgia has become interesting for China - we signed a free trade agreement with China and Hong Kong... Through free trade regimes, Georgia has access to 40% of global GDP, which means a total market of 2 billion", - Guruli said.
