TBILISI, APRIL 8 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) trade bloc has not damaged Georgia’s exports, Mariam Gabunia, head of the department for foreign policy at the Georgian economy ministry, told The Conway Bulletin in an interview.
Instead she said that Georgia was on course for a bumper year with exports rising strongly after a dip last year linked to tough economic conditions in Russia, Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
Some analysts have said that the EEU, which is essentially a trade bloc including Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, would hurt those who didn’t sign up — including Georgia. Ms Gabunia, though, waived aside this notion.
“In general, we do not see any negative impact on Georgia’s trade with regard to the EEU,” she said. “We are part of the CIS free trade agreement and Belarus and Kyrgyzstan are part of it. On top of that we have bilateral FTA (free trade agreements) with Russia, Armenia and Kazakhstan.”
Ms Gabunia’s comments are important because it is one of the first times that a senior official from a government outside the EEU has commented on whether the bloc has hit regional trade. Many businesses within the bloc have been complaining that the extra bureaucracy and the bias towards the larger members have created problems.
Georgia is, to a large extent, still reliant on trade with its former Soviet neighbours. One of the biggest boosts to its economy over the past few years was repairing relations with Russia. Last year it was Georgia’s biggest export market with $200m of sales.
And Ms Gabunia said that bilateral agreements made in the 1990s underpinned Georgia’s trade within the former Soviet Union, taking precedence over EEU rules.
“According to the legislation of the EEU the FTA that were concluded before the creation of the EEU will stay in force. and we had FTA with all these countries before the EEU was created,” she said.
This year has started strongly, mainly because of much improved macroeconomic conditions in Georgia and the rest of the region. Ms Gabunia said that trade relations with Russia had improved along with political relations.
“As far as concerns the other EEU members, the situation is improving,” she said.
“Exports to Belarus increased by 61% in the first two months of 2017, for example.”
According to Geostat, Georgia’s biggest exports are copper ore, ferroalloys, wine, medicines and cars.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 324, published on April 13 2017)
