On 11-13 November 2006, Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Noghaideli was on a working visit to the Kingdom of Belgium.
As part of the visit, the Prime Minister held meetings with Peter Semneb, the Special Representative of the European Union for South Caucasus, and Peter Mendelson, the European Commissar for Commerce. At the meeting the parties discussed several issues: one, the opportunity to sign a free trade agreement with Turkey. As Zurab Noghaideli said, the European Union approaches the question with full understanding. It became known that the negotiations with the Turkish side to that end will start from the end of the next month. "It is not about a free trade agreement only. It's about a full package of economic cooperation and relations. It must produce quite impressive results in terms of attracting investments and developing trade and in the longer term - in terms of a sustainable development of the Georgian economy," the Prime Minister said.
One more decision was made during the Prime Minister's visit to Brussels. As part of the European Community Action Plan, the organization will set up a special group to study the opportunities for signing a free trade agreement with Georgia. The process will commence in the nearest future.
Prime Minister's Press Service