Government delegations of Georgia and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday met in the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi to launch the third and final round of their negotiations on a free trade agreement between the states, the Ministry of Economy of Georgia announced.
Georgian Deputy Economy Minister Genadi Arveladze said the agreement would open the UAE market and its 10 million consumers with “high purchasing power” to Georgian exporting companies.
"The agreement will cover trade in goods, rules of origin and procedures of origin, customs administration and trade facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, trade protection measures, investment, trade in services, digital trade and other issues”, Arveladze said.
The state body announced the negotiations would be concluded on Friday before the signing of the deal at a later date.
In 2022, Georgia exported USD 31 million worth of goods to the UAE. Among them, cars are on the first place with USD 11 million, carpets are on the second place with USD 2 million, and alcoholic beverages are on the third place with USD 1.9 million.
As for imports, its volume amountes to USD 282 million, of which the first place was mobile phone with USD 155 million, the second place was tobacco products with USD 20 million, and the third place was computers with USD 12 million.