MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

On June 28, the Free Trade Agreement between Georgia and Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China was signed.

Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Genadi Arveladze, on the behalf of the Government of Georgia, and the Secretary of Commerce and Economic Development of Hong Kong, Edward Yau Tang-Wah signed the Agreement.

The Agreement was signed with the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Summit, where it was highlighted that this Agreement is the first and the one of a kind that Hong Kong has signed with the country of the region. Over 3 000 guests from different countries around the world, including the representatives of governments and business sectors attended the Summit.

It should be emphasized that the signing of the Agreement was one of the important messages of the Summit and the outcome will significantly contribute to the intensification of the inter-regional trade.

The Agreement was based on the Free Trade Agreement between Georgia and the People’s Republic of China, in which Hong Kong was represented as an observer.

The purpose of the Agreement is to determine the terms of the free movement of goods between Georgia and Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, and promote trade in services. The newly signed Agreement between the parties also covers such topics as customs, promotion of trade, intellectual property rights, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, etc.

“It is important that Hong Kong conducts open economic policy and represents one of the largest key transnational financial centers in the world. Its annual transit capacity is 500 billion USD, while its import volume equals to about 60 billion USD.

Hong Kong is an important country where Georgia can export such products as cheese, non-alcoholic beverages, spirits, wine, canned fruits and vegetables, hazelnut, fruit, honey, textile bags, leather linen bags, metal products and many others,” – the Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Genadi Arveladze commented.

The Agreement is supposed to enter into force by the end of this year. 

Consequently, its implementation will promote trade turnover between the parties and give Georgian entrepreneurs a chance to introduce their products and services without additional bureaucratic barriers to the 7 million-consumer market of high purchasing capabilities.