Uruguay proposes free trade agreement with Georgia

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Today, Uruguayan Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo proposed to his Georgian counterpart David Zalkaliani to start talks on a free trade agreement between the two countries.

“Starting talks on a free trade area will allow both countries to take full advantage of the potential and opportunities in Latin America that Uruguay is proposing to Georgia,” a Georgian Foreign Ministry official told Efe Agency.

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The foreign ministers of both countries took advantage of Bustillo’s visit, the first by an Uruguayan foreign minister since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1994, to discuss the future of trade and economic relations between Tbilisi and Montevideo.

“It is necessary to take advantage of Georgia’s geographical and geopolitical opportunities to make it a hub for transporting our goods to Uruguay and the entire Latin American region,” Zalkaliani said, quoted by the Foreign Ministry as calling Uruguay “an important partner and friend of Georgia.”

According to the Georgian government press service, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili also met with the head of Uruguayan diplomacy and confirmed “the Georgian side’s interest in strengthening political and logistical ties with Latin America.”

The Georgian head of government recalled the recent opening of an honorary consulate in Uruguay, stressing that this “plays an important role in developing bilateral partnership” with the South American country.

Uruguay and Georgia have a visa-free regime, which the Georgian government believes favors the development of relations.

Garibashvili thanked the Uruguayan diplomatic chief for Montevideo’s support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, a stance that distinguishes the South American country from countries such as Venezuela and Nicaragua, which have recognized the separatist republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The chairman of the Georgian Parliament’s International Relations Committee, Nikoloz Samaradze, who heads the friendship group with Uruguay, said that “both countries have a lot in common, which is why the exchange of views is of great importance.”

Bustillo came to Tbilisi from Yerevan, where he had held talks on opening an embassy of the South American country in Armenia.