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Georgia applied for WTO membership on 3 July 1996 to
start negotiations with the WTO working party on its
terms of accessions. The negotiations covered all areas
of WTO rules as well as commitments on market access for
both goods and services. The results of these
negotiations were adopted by the WTO General Council on 6
October 1999 and formally accepted by the national
legislature in Tbilisi in May this year.
At the General Council meeting of 6 October 1999, Mr. V.
Lordkipanidze, State Minister of Georgia, said: "We
believe that expansion of the multilateral trading system
will help to stop economic nationalism and protectionism,
give countries a fair foothold on the global trading
market, thus contributing to a stable and continued
economic growth world-wide." He added: "I am
convinced that by assuming their rightful place in the
global trading system, Georgia and other countries in
transition will soon see prosperity and stability
increase along with their new, expanded activity in the
world economic arena."
At the same meeting, Mrs. Anne Anderson (Ireland),
chairperson of Georgia's working party, remarked on
Georgia's speedy accession. She said that the rapid pace
of this accession process testified to the determination
shown by the Georgian authorities to carry through an
impressive reform process sustained by a high degree of
trade liberalisation and full conformity with WTO rules
and disciplines. She pointed out that the fact that
Georgia had been able to conclude accession negotiations
so rapidly and efficiently proved that when supported by
constructive dialogue, intensive preparatory work and
good will, the WTO accession procedures had worked well.
Georgia is the fourth former Soviet republic to become a
member government of the WTO, after the Kyrgyz Republic,
Latvia and Estonia. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Kazakstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and
Uzbekistan are in the process of negotiating their terms
of entry to the WTO.
Overall, 30 governments are currently negotiating to join
the WTO: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia,
People's Republic of China, Croatia, Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Kazakstan, Lao People's Democratic
Republic, Lebanon, Lithuania, Moldova, Nepal, Oman,
Russian Federation, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles,
Sudan, Chinese Taipei, Tonga, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,
Vanuatu and Vietnam.
All documents concerning the accession of Georgia are
available on the WTO website under "Documents
on-line".
As document symbol, type in: WT/ACC/GEO*.
Merchandise
Trade of Georgia
Back
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(Million
dollars and percentage)
| |
Exports
(fob) |
|
|
Imports
(cif) |
| |
1998 |
1999 |
|
|
1998 |
1999 |
| Value |
| World |
190 |
240 |
|
World |
1055 |
600 |
| CIS
and Baltic States |
105 |
110 |
|
CIS
and Baltic States |
385 |
225 |
| Rest
of the World |
85 |
130 |
|
Rest
of the World |
670 |
375 |
| Share |
| Major
partners: |
|
| CIS
and Baltic States |
55.3 |
… |
|
CIS
and Baltic States |
36.3 |
… |
| Russia |
31.7 |
… |
|
Russia |
20.7 |
… |
| Azerbaijan |
9.2 |
… |
|
Azerbaijan |
8.5 |
… |
| Armenia |
7.5 |
… |
|
European
Union (15) |
27.7 |
… |
| Turkey |
17.6 |
… |
|
Germany |
8.0 |
… |
| European
Union (15) |
9.0 |
… |
|
United
Kingdom |
7.1 |
… |
| Switzerland |
6.2 |
… |
|
Turkey |
10.9 |
… |
| |
|
|
|
United
States |
7.0 |
… |
| Major
product groups: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Food |
35.5 |
… |
|
Mineral
products |
31.7 |
… |
| Base
metals and articles thereof |
20.5 |
… |
|
Food |
18.7 |
… |
| Mineral
Products |
16.6 |
… |
|
Machinery
and mechanical appliances |
16.4 |
… |
| Chemicals
and Rubber |
12.5 |
… |
|
Transport
facilities |
10.2 |
… |
| |
|
|
|
Chemical
and rubber |
9.5 |
… |
|
|
|
