The first round of official negotiations on the European Union-Georgia deep and comprehensive free trade agreement (DCFTA) went underway on Tuesday in the capital city of the South Caucasus country.

This round of talks will last till Wednesday.

Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze on Monday described the start of the EU-Georgia DCFTA negotiations as one of the most important issues.

"This is one of the most important issues in the framework of the association agreement and we salute the negotiations," the senior diplomat said.

Started with a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, Georgia was included in the European Neighborhood Policy in 2004 before the two sides developed a five-year Action Plan for Georgia which was endorsed two years later.

The action plan requires Georgia to boost exports and improve trade balance.

The 27-state European bloc are currently conducting association agreement negotiations with Georgia, of which the fifth round was held in Tbilisi in May last year.

Standard free trade agreements foresee mutual opening of markets for goods and services while deep and comprehensive free trade agreements would require trade and trade-related legislation and standards to be compatible with those of the European Union.

While the DCFTA would eliminate barriers to trade and investment, it would help address non-tariff barriers as well.

An earlier EU Center for Social and Economic Research study indicated that possibility of economic benefits from the EU-Georgia DCFTA could reach 6.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

Though the launching of the official DCFTA negotiations is important, the long process also demands further reforms on the part of Georgia.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has described as "realistic" to have free trade agreement with the European Union as soon as 2013.

The Georgian president made the comment after EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht visited Tbilisi earlier this month.

"It is realistic for Georgia to have a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement with the European Union from next year," said the president who expects more than doubling trade with the European Union.

Karel de Gucht, on his part, told an RFE/RL interview that the DCFTA negotiations with Georgia would not take as long as it did in the case of Ukraine which negotiated the DCFTA from May 2008 to October 2011.