Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman says Georgia is in the top 20 promising markets for Ukrainian exports, while the two countries plan to increase their trade turnover to $1 billion a year, according to the Ukrainian governmental press service referring to the official meeting with his Georgian counterpart Georgi Kvirikashvili on November 27.
Groysman also said that if the trade turnover between the two states was estimated at almost $500 million last year, it exceeded $345 million in seven months of 2017.
"Now we set the task to bring the trade turnover up to $1 billion," Groysman said. "Agricultural sector, tourism, and energy are among the promising areas of cooperation."
The Ukrainian official also noted that the development of the two states' transit potential is the most promising trend. In his words, the combination of geographical and transport opportunities of Kyiv and Tbilisi can and should become an important component of The New Silk Road international initiative.
Georgian Prime Minister Kvirikashvili supported his Ukrainian counterpart as well.
"The New Silk Road is impossible without Ukraine. You [Ukraine] have access to the European Union, while we have that to China with the duty-free trade regime," Kvirikashvili said.
In this regard, Groysman recalled that in September 2017, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed in Odesa between Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways), Georgian Railway LLC, and Azerbaijan Railways, which will promote the development of rail routes through the Caucasus towards Ukraine and the European Union, as well as in the opposite direction.
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As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian Prime Minister Groysman began an official two-day visit to Georgia on November 27. The head of government will hold talks with Georgian President Georgi Margvelashvili, Georgian Prime Minister Georgi Kvirikashvili, Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Irakli Kobakhidze, as well as participate in Tbilisi Belt and Road Forum.