'Turkey-Georgia relations are ideal'

oday, despite the problems in the region, relations between Turkey and Georgia can be regarded as ideal, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said at a joint press conference with Turkish Prime Minister on Friday, TRT Haber TV channel reports.

"Today Turkey and Georgia are discussing opening of new border check-point to facilitate movement between the countries," Saakashvili said. He said trade and economic cooperation was also discussed with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Saakashvili said a joint project of construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is one of the strategically important projects in the region.

"The Georgian-Turkish relations will further develop," Saakashvili said.
According to the Georgian National Statistics Service, as of January-June 2011, Turkey ranks first among the trade partners of Georgia.

During the reporting period, Georgia's trade turnover with Turkey amounted to $671.4 million (16.3 percent of total turnover), which is 35 percent more than last year. Export from Georgia to Turkey amounts to $115.2 million (11.1 percent of total exports).

Turkey is also interested in the investment environment in Georgia. It is noteworthy that Turkey is one of the countries with which Georgia signed a contract on bilateral free trade. The agreement between the two countries on free trade was signed in Tbilisi on Nov.21, 2007. Georgia and Turkey signed an agreement to avoid double taxation of income and prevent nonpayment of tax.


/Trend/