Georgia became the latest country to open their resident diplomatic mission in New Delhi in February 2010. Their Ambassador H.E. Mr. Zurab Katchkatchishvili presented his letters of credence to the President of India two months back.

CII organized an interactive session to welcome the newly arrived Ambassador on July 29 2010. Chairman OIA, Ambassador V. B.Soni who was the concurrently accredited former Ambassador of India to Georgia was invited to preside over the session. Ministry of External Affairs was represented at the level of Joint Secretary (EURASIA) Mr. Ajay Bisaria. A representative of ECGC was also present.

In his opening remarks, Chairman OIA traced the historical links between India and Georgia dating back to the dawn of civilization. He mentioned about their common roots belonging to the Indo-European Aryan grouping originating from the Caucasus, the home of the Georgians. Historically there is enough literary and folklore based evidence which points out to the shared links. He brought out that fables from PANCHTANTRA are believed to have influenced Georgian folk legends.

Those links were further strengthened in medieval ages by missionaries, travelers and traders. Georgians are said to have served the Mughal courts where some of them are even believed to have risen to the positions of Governors.

Ambassador Soni pointed out that after recognizing Georgia's independence in December 1991 following the breakup of the former Soviet Union diplomatic relations were established. He said that he was proud to have served as Ambassador of India there in the initial stages. Various initiatives were taken then to forge closer links through the Trade and Cooperation agreements signed then.

Chairman OIA said that as the present bilateral trade volume is miniscule efforts should be made to increase it manifold through exchange of visits by businessmen from both sides. In that context he mentioned about the CII Business Delegation planned for visiting Georgia, Armenia Azerbaijan in September/October 2010 and exhorted as many Indian businessmen as possible to go.

Georgian Ambassador in his presentation gave a detailed background on the opportunities for investment that existed in Georgia which Indians should fully exploit because of the favourable atmosphere that prevails in his country. He listed areas such as free industrial zones, energy sector, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and IT sector to name a few.

Joint Secretary (EURASIA) from Ministry of External Affairs, the representative from ECGC and Head of Investment Promotion to the country also made their presentations. The question answer session moderated by Ambassador Soni turned out to be productive.