A two-day business summit to promote new trade and investment relations between U.S. and Georgian companies opened in Tbilisi on September 8, the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi said.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce, Juan Verde, opened the summit, organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. embassy and the American Chamber of Commerce.

Juan Verde leads the U.S. delegation that includes representatives from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce plans meetings with Georgian PM, Economy Minister, Energy Minister and Agriculture Minister to discuss cooperation in energy, infrastructure, tourism and financial sectors, according to the U.S. embassy.

The U.S. was Georgia’s sixth largest foreign trading partner in 2009 with trade turnover of USD 263.6 million, after Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Germany and Russia, according to the Georgian statistics office.