Georgia’s Foreign Minister attends Visegrad Four meeting

Influential representatives of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are gathering in Hungary to take part in the Visegrad Four (V4) meeting. The V4 are political directors - a consultative group comprised of representatives from the governments of Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia - and are pulling together in Budapest to hold the ministerial along with Georgia.

Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze is in Hungary along with Eastern Partnership member countries to welcome the V4 ministerial participants.

It is expected Panjikidze will talk about the Eastern Partnership, particularly the middle-term visions from Vilnius to Riga Summit at the plenary session of the V4.

Panjikidze believed signing the Association Agreement with the European Union (EU) would not be the last step of Georgia on its way to EU integration.

"I will talk about the perspectives of the Association Agreement as we expect it will be one forward step into the integration of the EU. The last step of Georgia is to become a full member of the EU,” Panjikidze said.

The first diplomat of Georgia will also highlight the implementation procedures of the Association Agreement after the document is signed this June.

Panjikidze will also meet with her Hungarian counterpart Ianosh Marton and Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule.

Earlier yesterday, the regional organisation GUAM, which is made up of four CIS countries – Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, held a meeting and issued a joint press release about the Ukraine crisis.

Moreover, Ukraine invited the parliaments of GUAM member countries to observe the planed Presidential elections in May.