MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Giorgi Gakharia discussed the importance of the Commercial Attachés as the integral part of the Produce in Georgia state program, when delivering his speech at the Economic Diplomacy Conference held within the framework of the Ambassadorial 2017 in Tbilisi. 

The Minister informed the audience, the up[on the cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, the Commercial Attaché Institute will be establishes at the Embassies of Georgia in the partner states. “Commercial Attachés will work closely with the Export and Investment Team of the Produce in Georgia Agency and establish cooperation with the potential investors and large buyers in the countries that are the strategic trade partners to Georgia and later, get them linked with the special representatives of the Agency” – Giorgi Gakharia explained.

Commercial Attaché will be responsible for both, the export and the investment directions. The information about the products identified for potential export and sector portfolios will be provided by taking into consideration the particularities of the individual countries. The Commercial Attaché will also be responsible for attracting potential investors to Georgia through introducing the Georgia’s economic opportunities to the relevant business sectors. At the same time, the Commercial Attaché will facilitate Georgian exporter to enter foreign markets.

The Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development highlighted the mechanism of the evaluation of the export and the activities of each Commercial Attaché. “The evaluation of export is possible for all countries. The analysis will cover the whole country as well as the specific nomenclature units. This gives us a very simple instrument to evaluate increase or decrease. It will be the basic criteria, to evaluate the quality of work implemented by the certain Commercial Attaché in a specific country. The fu Commercial Attaché will be responsible not only for supporting the export, but their mission is to attract the direct foreign investments and component can be measured as well” – Giorgi Gakharia stated. 

The countries where the Commercial Attachés will be sent at the first stage are already determined and their work will cover 6 directions selected following the certain criteria. The countries selected already are among the trade partners of Georgia and have opportunities to expand cooperation with regard of the signed Free Trade Agreement or other factors. However, selected states are Georgia’s strategic partners with the opportunity to expand the volume of export.