Turkiye And Georgia Forge Strong Ties

Record-breaking bilateral trade approaches $3 billion

Türkiye, as a strategic partner, is a strong supporter of Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. At the same time, Türkiye supports Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations. The positive dynamics of the development of bilateral political relations are evidenced by the high-level intensive visits made over the years.

Turkish-Georgian relations have reached a qualitatively new level in bilateral trade. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had underlined the goal to increase bilateral trade up to USD 3 billion by 2023, during Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili’s visit to Türkiye summer of 2021. In 2022 Türkiye is Georgia’s largest trading partner – according to statistics, trade turnover amounted to USD 2.81 billion.

In April 2021, a diagonal cumulation mechanism was launched between Georgia, Türkiye and the European Union, which will significantly facilitate trilateral trade and stimulate exports to new sectors. The diagonal cumulation mechanism allows the sale of products made in Georgia with Turkish industrial raw materials on the European Union market. Additionally, the Georgian market fully opened for high-quality and GMP standard Turkish medicines in January 2022 at the initiative of the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili. 

Record year in trade: 2022 

The fact that the trade turnover between Türkiye and Georgia increased by 30% to USD 2.8 billion in 2022 compared to the previous year may be referred to as the highest historical index between the two countries. This index led Türkiye to rank first among Georgia’s top 10 trading partners with a 15% share in total trade turnover in 2022. In terms of imports, Türkiye ranked first with an 18% share, while it ranked fifth after China, Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in exports with an 8% share. Exports to Türkiye increased by 35% to USD 435.5 million while imports from Türkiye grew by 30% and reached USD 2.37 billion in 2022.

Investment

Georgia welcomes Turkish investors with its favourable investment climate as well. In Foreign direct investment, Türkiye ranks seventh with USD 106.5 million in 2022.

World Bank’s “Doing Business 2020” – Georgia holds the 7th position in “Ease of Doing Business” (out of 190 countries).

“Index of Economic Freedom 2022” (Heritage Foundation) – Georgia is the 26th freest in the 2022 Index.

“Economic Freedom Ranking 2022” – Georgia is among the freest economies, globally ranking 15th.

“Corruption Perceptions Index 2021” (Transparency International) – 45th place among 180 countries. Fitch – BB “positive”. Standard and Poor’s – BB “stable”. Rule of Law Index 2021 (World Justice Project) – Georgia ranks 49th among 139 countries and 1st in Eastern Europe and Central Asia among 14 countries.

Turkish-Georgian relations have reached a qualitatively new level in bilateral trade

In addition, regional energy projects implemented through joint Turkish-Georgian efforts, such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, are of great importance. Active cooperation continues for the full implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project (TANAP and TAP) and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project.

Officially opened on October 30, 2017, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway directly connects Türkiye, Georgia and Azerbaijan reducing the shipment period from 35 to 15-17 days and shortening the distance from Europe to Asia by 6,800-7,500 km. In the first stage, the capacity of the project is supposed to be 5 million tons of cargo per year with the perspective of increasing up to 15 million tons and one million passengers per year.  In 2022, 435,000 tons of cargo were transported by the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

Last year, over 771,000 trucks used the Georgian corridor and among them, 131,000 were from Türkiye. According to the data of the Ministry of Economy, 32.5 million tons of cargo were transported by road through the Georgian corridor in 2022.