Home
Category
TV Live Menu

• ახალი ამბები ბიზნესში •

Loading data...

EUGBC: Georgia Was Not Prepared for DCFTA

5c92aaaaa4779
BM.GE
21.03.19 01:02
808
“In the process of signing association agreement, the government of Georgia should have realized that there was the need for the action plan on how Georgia would enter EU market. The work on this action plan should have started by experts together with the Georgian government at least 6 months or one year prior to that process”, stated the Director of EU-Georgian Business Council (EUGBC), Zviad Chumburidze during the interview with “Business morning”.

According to the preliminary data of National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat), the value of export amounted to 118.2 million USD in January-February period of 2019, which is less by 10.7% compared to the same period of last year.

“We were part of Soviet Union 28 years ago and the trade traditions that we had during the silk road period are now lost. Thus, we have to meet the standard required by the European Union and adapt to new trade traditions. Only a few Georgian companies meet EU requirement today, however, it should be noted that this is connected to big effort and finances. The main barrier existing in Georgian business is the high price of laboratory reports and certifications, which cost more than 1500 Euros and businesses can’t afford that. Logistics is another issue of concern, which also has a very high price.”, stated Chumburidze.

Director of EUGBC stated that compared to European companies, there is no large company in Georgia:

“This is the country of small and medium businesses, which do not have large finances which are require to meet the standards set by the European Union. We need to accelerate the processes, as for last 4 years we’ve been heading towards the EU with a really slow pace.”, stated Chumburidze.

Georgia signed the Association Agreement with the European Union in June 2014. It entered into force on July 1, 2016. The main aim of this process was to deepen political and economic relations between the EU and Georgia. That is one of the reasons why the creation of a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) was accompanied with this process.