EU and Georgia concluded talks on Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA)
On 22 July 2013, the European Union (EU) and Georgia successfully concluded negotiations for a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), as part of the Association Agreement between them. The Association Agreement, together with the DCFTA, will provide for the close political association and economic integration of Georgia with the EU. The comprehensive FTA,negotiated in just 17 months and seven rounds, will see Georgia gaining better access to the EU market for its goods and services. The FTA also sets a path for further reforms in trade-related policies, such as hygiene standards for agricultural products and the approximation of regulations for industrial products. This will boost access for Georgian goods to the EU market whilst also increasing consumer safety in Georgia. The Agreement is expected to boost the inflow of European direct investment to Georgia thanks to an open, stable and predictable policy-making environment.
Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment (attached), a report carried out for the EU, forecasts that the DCFTA has a potential to increase Georgia’s exports to the EU by 12% and imports from the EU by 7.5%. For more information on EU-Georgia DCFTA please see the European Commission Memo on EU-Georgia Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (attached).
The DCFTA will be included in the Association Agreement and signed as soon as internal EU and Georgia procedures are completed. As a step before the official signature – Georgia is to initial Association Agreement with the EU, which also includes DCFTA, by the time of the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in late November 2013.
Foreign Minister of Lithuania, Linas Linkevičius, whose country holds EU’s rotating presidency, stated: “I welcome conclusion of Georgia free trade talks. Important EaP phase completed. We should seek more beyond Vilnius”.
Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, said that concluding of the DCFTA talks would now pave the way for initialling of the Association Agreement at the Vilnius summit.
Attached documents