საქართველოს მთავრობა|Government of Georgia

The Georgian Prime Minister Nika Gilauri was on his working visit in Brussels during 14-17 March 2010.

During the visit Nika Gilauri met Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, EU Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas and European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule.

According to Nika Gilauri, "Brussels conference promised 4.5 billion to Georgia, wherefrom a part was the EU financing. In 2009 we received rather large sums which were mainly spent for construction of refugees' houses. This year we also intend implementation of similar projects and get funds from the EU".

The Georgian PM also met the EU president Herman Van Rompuy. During the meeting Herman Van Rompuy said Georgia was "the only South Caucasus country to have successfully negotiated" visa facilitation and readmission agreements.

Currently the EU has been discussing Association Agreement with Georgia. This Agreement will also provide for free trade component, said the EU President and expressed his hopes that very soon it should be possible to start negotiations over this matter.

During the meeting with the Georgian Prime Minister the President of the European Council stated that "EU continues to support Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty and expects Russia to fulfill all its commitments from the ceasefire agreements."

According to Herman Van Rompuy, "EU is observing the ongoing events in Georgia and although it does not send observers to monitor local elections, but it will watch the developments closely."

After the meeting with the President of the European Council the Georgian Prime Minister Nikoloz Gilauri said that "Georgia is the only South Caucasus country which negotiated visa facilitation and readmission agreements".

"This visit to Brussels proved to be very successful. We met practically all EU Commissioners which have contacts with Georgia -EU Development Commissioner Andris Pielbalgs, the European Energy Commissioner Gunter Oettinger, the European Commissioner for Trade Karel de Gucht. I also met the European Council President Mr. Herman Van Rompuy. The meeting was a success and absolutely all his statements touched the crucial and topical issues which our country suffers from. Among them was Russia's failure to fulfill the six-item agreement signed by Russia. This issue is included in his (rpompuis) statement.

During the meeting we talked about two agreements we are working over with the EU. They are visa facilitation and readmission agreements.

We successfully negotiated on visa facilitation and Mr. Van Rompuy stated that "we hope that we can soon fix date for a signature, possibly early June". This means that Georgian citizens will be able to get European countries' visa to European countries with much facilitated procedures very soon, and some categories will not need visa at all. Among such categories are sportsmen, culture figures, etc.

This plays a crucial role in strengthening relations between Georgia and the European countries.

If today only several European airlines fly to Tbilisi and Tbilisi is directly related to several European countries, then after signing airline agreement absolutely all European airlines will be able to fly to Tbilisi. The number of such cities will increase significantly which link Tbilisi with direct flights.

This is a crucial element for facilitating great mobility between Georgia and Europe, increase of number of tourists in Georgia and visits of European businessmen to Georgia.

We have negotiated agreements related to the said two matters. Only technical procedures are left and very soon we'll fix a date for signing the said agreements", said Nika Gilauri.

During his visit to Brussels the Georgian PM Nika Gilauri met the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barosso. Within the framework of the meeting they talked about free trade agreement.

Jose Manuel Barosso reaffirmed their firm support for Georgia's territorial integrity and welcomed Georgia's recent adoption of the State Strategy on engagement with occupied territories. Barosso criticized Russia for failure to fulfill its obligations.

"We reaffirm our strong commitment to stability and democracy in Georgia and our firm support for Georgia's territorial integrity. Preparations for negotiations on the future Association Agreement are in their final phase. An important part of this Agreement will be the possibility to establish a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area between Georgia and Europe and attraction of new markets. We also welcome Georgia's recent adoption of the State Strategy on engagement with occupied territories. This testifies Georgia's efforts to ease tensions and solve the conflict through peaceful means and diplomacy. In this regard, the continuation of the Geneva talks is of key importance.

Unfortunately all Geneva meetings end in fail. Neither Observation Mission has an access to the so called South Ossetia and Abkazia. Its a regret.

Democratic reforms are crucial. Georgia has already made important achievements. I think of progress in eradicating corruption and reforming the justice sector, for example. We are hopeful that intensive work will proceed to consolidate democratic institutions and ensure full media freedom.

The upcoming local elections will be an opportunity for Georgia to demonstrate further its commitment to political pluralism and international standards for free and fair elections", said the president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso.

The Georgian Prime Minister Gilauri stated that "economic and political relations between the EU and Georgia are strengthening more and more. Close relations in view of the Eastern Partnership consolidates our union. We are looking forward for particular results in Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. I hope that the mandate of the observation mission will be extended".

Prime Minister's Press Service