Introduction

 Globalization is important for stable development of the world. It is the process which was born and then speeded-up by the technological progress on the Earth. If we tried to calculate the correlation between globalization and technological progresses in case if we could measure them we would definitely find a strong positive relationship.  Georgia is making its first steps on the international market and in future is being considered to become a proud member of global International Economic Family. It is of a primary importance to determine main factors which extensively affect intensive integration of Georgia into worldwide globalization processes.

Discussion

  Globalization and everything connected to it is very important for development of contemporary Georgia. This is a matter of harsh and severe competition with the developing countries, particularly countries of Caucasus region. The most important issue is the competitiveness integration ability on the world markets and the fight for the right markets for our exported production. Of course, it is obvious that our products or services may not be of the highest quality right away and the trend of export volumes will not blow up right away, but it has to be a priority for our business and service providers to be aware of every kind of demands on international markets and customer satisfaction key issues. Since Globalization is a subject of the world as a whole it consists of micro “elements” each of which generates its input into creation of country GDP and GNP. The volume of both is highly dependent on the quality of offered goods and services and vice-versa. An easy example for this could be a simple McDonalds or Wendy’s network in Georgia. If the tourists or even Georgian citizens find the difference in the quality in comparison to the same networks abroad the network will lose its image and as a result - the customers. That is exactly the issue of “alignment” to the quality requirements which we discussed above. 

  Due to its initial nature globalization brought to the world synchronization of all ongoing processes. We should not discuss only economic globalization. This process refers to all the fields of the life on the planet: technologies, innovations exchange together with the competition, cultural interaction, education programs, sport, fashion and etc. Politics do not stand apart and create the strongest engine for economical interaction between the states.

Unfortunate issue is that globalization has nothing to do with the synchronization of inventing and technological processes - we are synchronizing in production of similar products and services, we import/export a lot, though we never invent in a synchronized way.

 Introducing internet web to the world, the global trade discovered enormous opportunities for free communication and access to almost any kind of information. Today we hardly imagine or remember the ways we used to communicate to facilitate international trade. Globalization today means free exchange of any kind of information, services or products worldwide and main component of this process is easiness of information exchange using global web.

  Georgia has been chasing and catching up with the globalization constantly for many years. The country signed the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) Agreement with the EU, free trade agreement the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), free trade agreements with China, Turkey, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the members of the CIS; The government of Georgia has worked hard on the issues regarding visa liberalization and EU/Georgia Association Agreement which entered into force on July, 1, 2016. Free trade with numerous European countries will bring significant facilitation in trade between
Georgia and European countries. China and Georgia are members of the World Trade Organization. The fact that a free trade agreement has been signed between the countries is very important  in terms of development of trade relations. The figures have been inspiring and we can follow the preliminary data provided by Georgian Statistics Department for external merchandise trade of Georgia in January-April 2018:

External Merchandise Trade (excluding non-declared trade) of Georgia amounted to USD 3 786.2 million in January-April 2018 (preliminary data), 22.2 percent higher year-on-year.

The value of export increased by 22.0 percent reaching USD 961.4 million, while the import grew by 22.3 percent and amounted to USD 2 824.8 million.

The trade deficit equaled USD 1 863.5 million and its share in trade turnover constituted 49.2 percent.

We clearly see the improving figures and still we do hope for the best results in upcoming years.

  Since Georgia’s independence after destruction of the USSR the country economy has faced difficult times. Destruction of existing economic connections, significant production decrease, lack of innovations and technological progress has brought the country to the catastrophic situation in economy. Government of Saakashvili has implemented numerous reforms though elite corruption which was de facto ruler of the country has destroyed the hope of real development of the production sector and amelioration of the situation. Corruption index is the milestone of economic stability and reliability for the investments in the country. Since those elite corruption times the situation has significantly improved and today Georgia ranks 46/180 in Corruption Perception Index 2017 and scores 56/100. It is evident that foreign investors would prefer reliable and less corrupted partner for any economic partnership. It is still very important to keep the positive dynamic and strive for improvement in this field.

In recent years FDI figures which are of a vital importance to our country have showed positive dynamics with a slight downswing in 2015-2016:

*Preliminary data

 As one very active and trendy field we should mention the challenging crypto-currency market which is named to bring the new globalization era on the virtual currency market and which is aimed to ease the exchange processes.  There are nearly 1,600 crypto-currencies in the world and though well-known and respected scientists may qualify them as a temporary bubble (Paul Krugman, Warren Buffett and many others), we should draw the attention to its development dynamics. The crypto currency can become a threat for hundreds of companies which are investing into the development of this yet alien product. Surprisingly, without being a leader on innovations market Georgia keeps one of the leading positions on the global crypto-currency mining market and is listed amongst top 5 countries in this field. Unfortunately, due to tis novelty this sphere is not regulated by the government yet and we cannot provide exact statistical data of production or operations volume for the moment as well as the exact position of our country on the list of crypto-currency producers.

  Due to its initial nature globalization brought to the world synchronization of all ongoing processes. We should not discuss only economic globalization. This process refers to all the fields of the life on the planet: technologies, innovations exchange together with the competition, cultural interaction, education programs, sport, fashion and etc. Politics do not stand apart and create the strongest engine for economical interaction between the states.

 Joining NATO is one of the most crucial aspirations for Georgia today. It has been a long-time hard work to complete the process. Everybody estimates the advantages of being an honorable member of NATO family. The advantages concern not only economical side of the deal, but also the security of our  country territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The key importance processes such as Association Agreement with EU and Belt and Road Project are advantageous for the current globalization development. Georgia subsequently becomes the Silk Road Economic Belt Hub in the region. Though we must bear in mind that Georgia gets on the one hand the advantages with the access to the privileges of the global family and on the other hand Georgia becomes responsible for all the obligations of any agreement. The partner countries follow any information and issues regarding the processes attentively and weight all the advantages and disadvantages of collaboration.  

Culture becomes an initial lining for the economic globalization which is a priori important to the globalization as a whole and very important to Georgia. As the cradle of viticulture and the native land of ancient culture it widens the country opportunities to increase inflow of tourists which has significantly increased in the region and has clearly influenced the GDP. Gross Domestic Product Real Growth Rate has reached 5.0% according to preliminary data.

If we look closer, mondial economic events are reflecting one another, governments reflect already tested and properly working models. Sometimes and very often they do fail, but still are developing them. Economic forums facilitate exchange of the practices and creation of new opportunities and communications. Unfortunately, they do not include the elimination of negative results of globalization.

  One of the most negative impacts of the globalizations is the fact that the crises happening in the economic world become synchronized - if any country faces certain problems, they necessarily find the reflection as in a chain reaction in other countries, too. We may recall the process of “strengthening dollar” against the currencies of its trading partners when numerous countries faced inflation and Georgia was amongst the countries whose currency noticeably weakened due to the dollar strengthening policy. 

  Political decisions create visible hindrances to the globalization idea of whole global and open market. In case if we describe the global economy as a whole. For instance, we recall ongoing trade battle between USA and China. There are key companies which are shutting down the production operations as US Commerce Department banned the sale of smartphones parts produced in USA to ZTE Corporation.

ZTE Corporation is one of the leading companies on the world market of smartphones (holding position of approximately 10% of smartphones market). Its production generated $17 bln revenue in 2017. The Trump’s government banned selling the smartphone components to ZTE for 7 years. Recently, Trump’s government imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. It is clear that losing one of the largest markets in the world will result in losing revenues, consequently this will create problems with the overproduction and following will yield in negative effects like ceasing production and unemployment.

  Unfortunately, nobody from politicians remembers in this case the existence of the Keynesian model of an Open World in the meaning of free exchange between the countries. I mean its pure formulation without influences of not too bright political decisions. 

Together with enormous positive opportunities globalization creates countless risks factors to the world.

Nuclear countries’ globalization and cooperation will definitely have to consolidate the world politicians’ aspirations for the domination on this huge and the most expensive stage. It is a catwalk of autonomy and independence together with the constant threat for the other countries. Nobody has cancelled the threat for the weaker players who would never be able to become nuclear countries. We recall for the most recent decision of US president Trump to withdraw United States from the JCPOA – Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.  I would cite Mr Javier Solana’s words as no one explains it better: “The decision will be a massive blow to the 2015 deal, putting the entire world at risk”.

 So what could be the immune mechanism to avoid negative effects of the globalisation? International and influential organisations such as EU, NATO, WB, IMF, OSCE and etc constantly  provide substantial support and strong advisers board to avoid various negative effects. There is one more question: can we manage the negative effects of globalisation ? The answer would be the wise and liberal policy for the trade, strict customs security policy (to avoid contraband) and of course, peace.

 Globalization in many meanings bears high moral responsibility for the economies and organizations standing for the security of international collaboration. Not the least importance is given to the climate change issues. They force the producers to obey not only the competition all around the globe, but primarily the nature cataclysm issues which are disturbing.  The Global market key manufacturers search for solutions to substitute damaging manufactures. The solutions are constantly sought for and the producers work on new deals to decrease pollution and damage to the environment. For instance, the most famous Tesla and other electro mobiles manufacturing has become very competitive recently.

 Future globalization trend and whirl up will be in adopting the Space economy – the largest economy due to its volumes, costs and importance. Though we may argue regarding globalization in this field, as not so many countries may afford this business. Probably in future it may become more affordable. 

 Conclusion

  As a conclusion we could say that if the market economy is being ruled by invisible hand then the global market is ruled by the strictest rules of visible changes challenges of the world. Consolidation of positive efforts and peaceful situation on the planet would strongly facilitate the process of globalization. Coincidence of all ongoing positive and negative political or economic actions sequences around the globe should provide us with a singular model of successful integration of Georgia into the mainstream.

Literatura:

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