Trying to maintain free trade regime with CIS countries

On August 18 Georgia will officially withdraw from the CIS, but it is trying to maintain the free trade agreements it currently has with CIS countries by virtue of having been a member. So far new agreements have been signed with seven of them - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Draft agreements with Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are ready to be signed.

For the last 4 years Georgia’s trade turnover with CIS countries has been reducing. In 2005 the CIS share in Georgia’s trade turnover was 42%, in 2006 39%, in 2007 36% and in 2008 33%. Despite this negative trend CIS countries still receive the greatest percentage of Georgian exports, 36%.

In 2009 Georgia has imported products worth USD 585 million from CIS countries and exported USD 180 million. Among Georgia’s biggest CIS trade partners are Azerbaijan, Armenia and Ukraine, with Azerbaijan the biggest.