MINISTRY OF ECONOMY
AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
OF GEORGIA

On January 9-11, 2017, Georgian and Indian Civil Aviation Authorities held talks on the draft of the Air Services Agreement between Georgia and the Republic of India. After the talks, the two sides signed the Memorandum of Cooperation.

The agreement will enable the Georgian side to perform the regular flights to India’s major international airports, particularly to the towns such as Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore. Before signing the agreement, Delhi was the only possible destination for regular flights from and to Georgia. According to the terms of the agreement, both sides will initially perform 21 weekly flights instead of 4 as it was possible before signing the new Air Services Agreement between the countries. The negotiations came after the working visit to Georgia of the Civil Aviation Minister of the Republic of India, Gajapati Raju. During the visit, First Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia, Dimitry Kumsishvili and the Civil Aviation Minister of the Republic of India signed the Memorandum of Strengthening the Cooperation in Civil Aviation. The memorandum focused on the establishment of the legal basis for the development of air services between the two sides as well as the importance of signing the bilateral intergovernmental agreement. According to the document, the parties agreed that the talks on the draft of the agreement would start soon.

Signing the bilateral intergovernmental agreement between the two parties enables the creating the legal basis to start direct flights between Georgia and India, which in turn will contribute to the development of tourism and promote the cooperation in trade, investment and other areas.

During the working visit, for studying the tourism potential of Georgia, the Indian delegation also held meetings with several tourist companies.