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India-Georgia FTA
Former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of Georgia on Sunday, cementing the ruling party's grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country's EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. Outgoing pro-Western Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said Sunday morning that she would vacate her residence at the Orbeliani Palace in Tbilisi, but insisted she was still the legitimate office holder. I will come out of here, come out to you and be with you. ... This presidential residence was a symbol as long as there was a president here who was legitimate. I bring legitimacy with me, Zourabichvili told a crowd of supporters outside the palace. She called Kavelashvili's inauguration a parody." Kavelashvili, 53, who was the only candidate on the ballot, easily won the vote earlier in December given the Georgian Dream party's control of a 300-seat electoral college that replaced direct presidential elections in 2017. It is ma
Vice President Kamala Harris told a cheering, boisterous, packed arena on Tuesday that the next few months would be a serious fight and acknowledged the Democrats were right now the underdogs but assured the crowd they would win in November. We have a fight in front of us," the likely nominee said. The momentum in this race is shifting. And there are signs Donald Trump is feeling it." Little more than a week ago, Georgia appeared to be slipping out of the Democrats' reach: President Joe Biden's campaign pledged to concentrate more on holding the Midwestern "blue wall" states and indicated they might be willing to forsake Sun Belt battlegrounds. But now that Biden has bowed out of the race and Harris is the likely nominee, Democrats are expressing new hopes of an expanded electoral map and welcoming the vice president to the state that delivered Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020 with a show of political force intended to signal a new landscape against Trump. Harris said wh
India and Georgia on Tuesday decided to initiate talks on a free trade agreement (FTA).Commerce and Industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman signed a joint statement in this regard to start a feasibility study on a potential FTA.Upon the completion of a Joint Feasibility Study, the two nations may proceed to negotiate on the FTA once the internal procedures are completed and the mandates on negotiations are approved.The announcement comes a day after visiting Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull formally pitched for an early round of talks on the proposed comprehensive economic cooperation agreement (CECA).However, unlike India's current free trade negotiations that include various major economies like Australia and United Kingdom as well as multilateral platforms, Georgia is an outlier in trade terms.Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, Georgia is part of the southern Caucasus region. With the nation bordering Azerbaijan and Russia, the ...