New Opportunities for Cooperation between China and Georgia

On July 31, Ren Hongbin, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), delivered a speech at the China-Georgia Business Forum.

The China-Georgia Business Forum was held in Beijing on July 31. Jointly hosted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. The forum was attended by around 230 representatives of government officials, business professionals and the media from two countries to discuss how to further tap into the potential in the fields of economic and trade cooperation and make the pie of win-win cooperation bigger under the new circumstances.

Ren Hongbin, chairman of CCPIT, said that CCPIT is willing to bring together Georgia to seize the opportunities brought by the strategic complementarity between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Middle Corridor Initiative of Georgia, focus on key fields like wine trade, investment, build more high-quality platforms, make the pie of win-win cooperation bigger, promote economic and trade exchanges and cooperation between the two countries, and contribute to their respective development and revitalization.

"Though Georgia and China are thousands of miles apart, they have a lot in common. Both countries have a long history, similar values, and respect each other." Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili said that Georgia is an important hub connecting Asia and Europe, and he expects that more Chinese enterprises can invest in Georgia and more extensive cooperation in the fields of trade, transportation and logistics, infrastructure and renewable energy can be carried out to achieve mutual benefit.

On July 31, Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia, delivered a speech at the China-Georgia Business Forum.

At the forum, the heads of the Georgia Enterprise Bureau, the Georgian National Tourism Administration and the National Wine Agency respectively introduced trade and investment opportunities in their respective fields, and more than 180 entrepreneur representatives from the two countries from the fields of beverage, energy, infrastructure construction, transportation and logistics of the two countries held negotiations.

It is reported that in recent years, China-Georgia economic and trade cooperation has been steadily advanced, and China has become the largest export market and the third largest trading partner of Georgia for many years. On January 1, 2018, the China-Georgia Free Trade Agreement came into effect, becoming the first free trade agreement signed between China and countries in the Eurasian region.

The forum coincided with Garibashvili's visit to China, and the two sides issued the Joint Statement on Establishing Strategic Partnership between China and Georgia, which clearly defined that the bilateral relation were upgraded to strategic partnership.

On the same day (July 31), Under the witness of the Prime Ministers of both countries, Zheng Zhajie, Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, and Levan Davitashvili, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, signed the Cooperation Plan on Jointly Building the Belt and Road between China and Georgia on behalf of the two governments.

The Cooperation Plan upholds the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, stays committed to the vision of open, green and clean cooperation, and pursues the goal of high-standard, people-centered and sustainable development, focuses on policy coordination, connectivity of infrastructure, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and closer people-to-people ties, and identifies the key areas and contents of China-Georgia cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The signing of the Cooperation Plan is of great significance to deepening political mutual trust and synergizing development strategies between China and Georgia, and is conducive to deepening practical cooperation between both countries in all fields. It will surely create new opportunities for China-Georgia cooperation, inject new impetus into common development, and bring more benefits to the two countries and two peoples.

Source: <http://www.news.cn/fortune/2023-08/01/c_1129779224.htm>

and <https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Fwuz0JFP9buHPZE5VUWbKQ>

Translated by Li Tian