Diplomatic World_nummer 57

Skyline of Tbilisi and Narikala Castle, Tbilisi, Georgia
© Shutterstock
Georgia has been gradually increasing its presence in
Brussels. As a country aiming at eventual membership
of the EU, we are slowly but surely bringing Georgia’s
political, economic and legal standards closer to the
norms established inside the EU. This is what Georgia’s
Association Agreement with the EU is about, which
was signed in 2014. We are deepening the scope of our
cooperation in most of the sectors of economic life.
Products made in Georgia are entering European markets.
On the other hand, European businesses are more and
more interested in expanding in Georgia, which is one of
the easiest countries of the world for doing business. The
World Bank ranks Georgia in the top ten countries for the
ease of doing business, which is a remarkable achievement
and which shows that Georgia is trying to compensate for
the small size of its market with its efficient and corruption
free institutions and administration in order to become
a regional hub for business, logistics and transport. I
hope that more and more Belgian companies will become
interested in doing business in Georgia and we work closely
with chambers of commerce, encouraging them to organise
trade missions and look out for business opportunities in
Georgia. Some Belgian companies are already present in
Georgia such as Tractebel and Goslan.
When it comes to bilateral political relations between
Georgia and Belgium and Luxembourg, we are proud
to have these two founding members of the European
Union as our close partners and friends. We are all small
countries that have faced similar challenges throughout
the history but each one of us has found different ways
of dealing with them. There is so much that Georgia can
learn from Belgium especially in areas of managing ethnic
and linguistic diversity, overcoming political divisions
through constant dialogue and ability to cooperate and
forge coalitions with political rivals. Last year we celebrated
25 years of diplomatic relations between our countries.
This year we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the
foundation of the first Democratic Republic of Georgia. It
is noteworthy that Belgo-Georgian friendship takes root in
those turbulent years of post World War I, when Europe
was in flux and young Georgian democracy, which escaped
from the clutches of Tsarist Russia emerged as an appealing
experiment in progressive social democracy to European,
including Belgian, socialists.
Despite being on the edge of Europe, at the crossroad of
oriental and western Christian civilizations, Georgia has
always considered itself culturally and politically European.
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