The significance of the Eastern Partnership format has been discussed at the European Policy Centre in Brussels

Thr FINANCIAL — The significance of the Eastern Partnership format was discussed at the European Policy Centre in Brussels, according to MFA of Georgia.

Discussions, held on the initiative of the European Policy Centre (EPC) and the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, were attended by Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius, Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia, EEAS,Thomas Mayr-Harting, the EPC think-tanks and Kent University analysts. 

Talking points included the EU policy towards the Eastern partnership states, prospects for co-operation in the frames of this format and the current challenges. Participants of the meeting underlined Georgia’s impressive progress and the country’s efforts on its path towards the European integration. The Lithuanian Foreign Minister reaffirmed the strong support for Georgia, underlining that the EU, in its turn, must demonstrate its own readiness to keep its promises and the best example of this is Georgia, which has fulfilled all obligations under the visa liberalisation and is worthy of granting the visa-free travel with the EU.  

The Georgian Foreign Minister addressed the attending audience, focusing on the significance of the Eastern Partnership format on the path of Georgia’s European integration as a result of which Georgia has carried out numerous reforms and has become a leader in terms of democratic transformation, institutional development, the rule of law and the economic reforms.  Mikheil Janelidze informed the participants on the recent economic and institutional reforms carried in the country. The Minister also spoke about Georgia’s democratic development and the upcoming parliamentary elections and cited the international observers’ intermediate reports and the international partners’ assessments of the democratic electoral environment in Georgia.  

The meeting organised by the EPC was held in a Q&A format and was attended by the EU experts, representatives of media, research and analytical centres.