Tbilisi Silk Road Forum To Take Place in October

Georgia will host Tbilisi Silk Road Forum, on October 21-23, 2019, in Tbilisi, Georgia.

This biennial global Forum gathers thousands of delegates representing government as well as private sector leaders, representatives of international institutions and industry experts from all over the world.  This event is a next stage of extremely successful Tbilisi Belt and Road Forum of 2017 and Tbilisi Silk Road Forum of 2015. This gathering provides an excellent platform to discuss new ideas and opportunities in the fast changing world and to start a new chapter of our cooperation in the areas of trade, transport, infrastructure, innovations and energy. 

Georgia historically has played an important role in the development of ancient Silk Road, which at this time provided the shortest route for channeling the merchandise from East to Europe and vice-versa. We are truly dedicated to participate in the process of development of this concept into a modern project that envisages building of modern transportation and communication systems for ensuring unhindered passage of goods and capital across the continents. Throughout the history, with our hospitality and culture, Georgia has hosted vast amount of merchants and traders who have traveled and crossed miles from Far East into our land to reach the shores of the European countries.

International trade has gained even greater significance and has become more complex with its modern forms of globalization. Contemporary trends in world economy, complexity of relations among international actors, the speed of development of transport routes, the importance of time saving and the need for adaptability to a rapidly changing environment have the potential to unleash a whole new array of opportunities for our country. Given the above circumstances, we are more likely to transform ourselves into multidimensional regional hub where East connects with the West, thus fully committing ourselves to laying the ground for the transformational process of our country and joint efforts with our partners for the revival of the new Silk Road.

Hosting the Silk Road Forum in Tbilisi, serves the purpose of boosting economic development of the region and beyond, through attracting international business communities to explore investment opportunities and further sustainable development in our country. With stronger economy and intensive trade relations in the region as well as better infrastructure and connectivity to the world Georgia will offer greater opportunities for our partners both in Asia and Europe to reach out to the regional actors.

This year’s participants of the Forum will focus their discussions on issues related to understanding stability and sustainable growth patterns, artificial intelligence as a key to innovation driven growth and impact of its development on global economy, changing the landscape of global trade, increasing role of energy corridors through developing the energy belt on the New Silk Road, as well as emerging opportunities for improvement of transport links under the New Silk Road. Defining means of cooperation in these areas and charting a common vision for overcoming obstacles through dialogue, research, initiatives and joint projects would be the essential outcome of the Forum and the next step toward shaping the long-term success of this biennial dialogue.

Also, the Forum’s emphasis will be to showcase Georgia as a rising destination for new investment opportunities, with an ample of possibilities to network, exchange ideas and find the means for business development.
Considering all of the above, I believe, the upcoming Silk Road Forum will provide a unique opportunity for all stakeholders to discuss a wide range of issues and explore new areas for stronger cooperation.