Georgia eases visa rules for GCC visitors

Georgia now allows Saudis and travelers from other Gulf Cooperation Council nations to enter the country for 90-day visits without visas.
This is according to George Janjgava, Georgia’s first-ever ambassador to the Kingdom, who spoke to Arab News recently in Riyadh. “Now they only need their passports with them like other neighboring countries, the European community and the United States. These countries are important to us and their citizens do not need visas.”
Janjgava, who arrived in September last year, said that Georgia is a tolerant country with a mix of ethnic and religious groups. It has a growing tourism industry with 6 million visiting annually. Last year, 6,000 Saudis made the trip.
“Politically, we enjoy very good relations with Saudi Arabia, which is a very important partner for us,” the envoy said. “My mission here is to promote high-level two-way visits between the Kingdom and Georgia.”
In terms of trade, he said Georgia seeks cooperation in agriculture, tourism and transport. In particular, the country has an abundance of spring mineral water for medicinal use.
On the global fight against terrorists, the envoy said: “We are with Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world in its fight against terrorism. We support global efforts to curb international terrorism, which is the biggest headache for everyone in the 21st century.”
Georgia ranks ninth among countries in the ease of doing business index. In Forbes magazine’s list of best countries for business, Georgia ranks 47th among 146 countries, determined by 11 factors including property rights, technology and innovation, taxes and corruption.
He said there is growing trade with the Kingdom. The country has now resumed importing sheep from Georgia, after veterinarians checked the animals for quality. The last shipment was 130,000 live sheep in 2009.
He said Georgia is the only country to be granted a substantive package of defensive measures at the NATO summit in Wales. The package will help Georgia strengthen its defense capabilities and advance plans to take up NATO membership.
Georgia signed on June 27, 2014, an association agreement with the European Union, which was ratified by the Georgian Parliament on July 18 last year. “We are a Caucasian nation and have our own alphabet, which is more than 1,700 years old. We are a European nation.”
He said 9 percent of the country’s population is Muslim and the rest mostly Christians. The downtown area has a mosque, synagogue and church close to each other, he said.
He said there had been a significant influence on Georgia by Arabs because the country has many scientific books written by Arab scholars. Many had been born in Georgia from the 8th to the 11th century, he said.