MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

Consultations were held between delegations from Georgia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to conduct a joint review of bilateral trade and initiate negotiations regarding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The Georgian delegation was led by Deputy Minister of Economy Genadi Arveladze, while the GCC delegation was led by Abdulrahman Al-Jeraidi, Head of the General Directorate for Free Trade Agreements.

The Deputy Minister stated that Georgia is interested in moving quickly to the active negotiation phase of the FTA. “GCC member states are vital trade and economic partners; signing an FTA will further strengthen these ties. Specifically, it will help increase and diversify Georgia’s export potential in these markets for both products and services,” – Arveladze said.

Arveladze also noted that intensive consultations are ongoing, evidenced by meetings held in Tbilisi and Riyadh over the past two weeks. “This gives us hope that the GCC Council will be able to prepare the relevant report in a short timeframe and present it to the Ministerial Council in the first quarter of 2026, upon which a decision regarding the feasibility of starting formal FTA negotiations will be made,” – the Deputy Minister explained.

The meeting focused on trade in services, investments, and the general and institutional parts of the agreement. The parties agreed that the next meeting, covering trade in goods and related issues, will take place on December 24 of this year.

Ambassador of Georgia to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Nikoloz Revazishvili, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Justice also attended the meeting.