At the “Tbilisi Belt and Road Forum” on 28 November 2017, China and Georgia have signed an agreement on the creation of free trade zones in Georgia that would facilitate Georgia’s role in China’s Belt and Road initiative.

The China-Georgia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) ratified in May 2017 would come into effect from January 1, 2018. Under the terms of the deal Georgia will eliminate tariffs on 96.5 percent of tariff lines, and within five years China will remove tariffs on 93.9 percent of tariff lines on products from Georgia.