China, Georgia ink free trade agreement

China and Georgia inked free trade agreement on Saturday to expand bilateral trade.

The two countries agreed to expand cooperation in goods trade, service trade, trade remedy and other fields, according to the agreement, which will take effect at the end of 2017 or early 2018.

Once the agreement takes effect, Georgia will impose no tariff on 96.5 percent of products from China immediately, while 90.9 percent of China's imports from Georgia will be free from tariff immediately and another 3 percent will be exempted from tariff within five years.

Georgia agreed to open further in service trade covering financial, transport and other sectors, while China will further open its tourism and ocean shipping markets to Georgia.

The two countries initiated the FTA negotiation in December 2015 and ended it substantively in October 2016. It is the first FTA that China accomplished in Eurasia.