The First Vice Prime Minister/Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia said Georgia and Qatar had agreed to launch talks on a Free Trade Agreement following a high-level meeting with Qatar’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Sheikh Faisal bin Thani Al Thani.

“At the meeting with the Qatari Minister of Commerce and Industry, we discussed key areas of economic cooperation.

At a practical level, we agreed that existing agreements between the two countries must be implemented, and a specific format will be created for that purpose. Throughout the year, we will have business delegation visits between Georgia and Qatar to further deepen our trade and economic relations. Importantly, we reached a decision to begin negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with Qatar - similar to the one we already have with the United Arab Emirates.

This will be a separate bilateral format, not a regional FTA with all Gulf countries.

Negotiations are expected to begin later this year, possibly within the framework of the 5th Silk Road Forum to be held in Tbilisi on October 22–23.

This will certainly provide an additional incentive to deepen our economic cooperation.

We hope the Qatari delegation will visit Georgia and that specific negotiations will take place during the Silk Road International Forum. All of this will undoubtedly strengthen economic ties between our two countries”, - said Levan Davitashvili.

The Georgian delegation, led by the First Vice Prime Minister, participated in the 5th Qatar Economic Forum. The forum was held under the patronage of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, supported by Bloomberg. It was attended by more than 2,500 global leaders from around the world.

Within the framework of forum, Georgian delegation participated in several sessions, where speakers were high-ranking political leaders/heads of international companies, including: Ryan M. Lance, Chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips, Donald Trump Jr., Vice President of 1789, Mary Callahan Erdoğan, Executive Director of Asset/Wealth Management of J.P. Morgan, etc.