Georgian officials and the European Free Trade Association held the first meeting of their joint committee in Geneva on Saturday to discuss the free trade agreement between the two sides.

Georgia’s Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development said Genadi Arveladze, the deputy minister, led the meeting which saw the parties exchange information on the implementation of the agreement, with particular emphasis on the achievement of the objectives set out in the chapter on trade and sustainable development.

Views on implemented economic reforms, bilateral trade relations between the parties and prospects for their development were also discussed, in addition to developments in the field of e-commerce and its addition to the agreement.

Annex 2 on rules of origin and methods of administrative cooperation, within the framework of the free trade agreement between Georgia and the EFTA countries, was signed at the meeting by decision of the committee mixed.

The annex does not modify the rules in force between Georgia and EFTA but creates the possibility of an alternative use of the updated version of the pan-Euro-Mediterranean preference rules – for the benefit of economic operators who choose to do so.

The Joint Committee of the European Free Trade Association and Georgia was created within the framework of the EFTA-Georgia Free Trade Agreement, signed on June 27, 2016 and in force since September 2017.