Georgia’s achievements and aspirations revealed at Egmont Institute

To highlight Georgia’s aspirations of European and EU Atlantic integration, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili focused on the country’s expectations from the Eastern Partnership in his speech at the Egmont Institute Conference in Belgium.

Georgia’s PM believed European and EU Atlantic integration was the "cornerstone for developing Georgia’s foreign and domestic policy."

"This is a national idea that is supported by Georgian people and all main political parties."

In his introduction of the Government's European and Euro Atlantic integration agenda, Garibashvili stressed six main achievements of the Government in the past year. These were:

* 2012 October Parliament elections, estimated by international society as the most free and fair elections

* Constitutional amendments that created more democratic system of checks and balances between the legislative and executive branches

* Media freedom from political pressure

* Human rights protection and protection of minority rights

*Property protection

* Business operation in a competitive environment

"The outcome of 2012 Parliament election was the clear demonstration of the European aspiration of Georgia’s people. Since coming into power, the Government has fully committed to the goal of EU integration,” Garibashvili addressed conference participants.

"My Government initialed and implemented the key political and economic reforms to strengthen the democracy in the country.”

Garibashvili’s speech was part of the panel session titled "Georgia and EU: From Vilnius to Riga – Priorities and Challenges.”

Mulling over the country’s achievements, Garibashvili said Georgian people would never tolerate any deviations from the democratic path of the country’s development.

"I believe this is one of the most important achievements of the nation,” he added.

The PM also spoke about the decision not to boycott the Sochi Olympic Games.

"It was a hard decision for us not to boycott the Sochi Games. We made this decision and we are sending our athletes in Sochi. Despite positive efforts of our Government, provocative actions are still ongoing, including Moscow illegally installing the barbed wire fences on the occupation line on our territory,” he said.

Garibashvili said he expected the Russian side to continue to put pressure on Georgia.

"The Government plans to continue working with the EU and other international partners in order to curb further deterioration of the situation. In this respect I would like to underline the critical role of EU in the peaceful resolution of Russia-Georgia conflict. EU’s non-recognition policy [of independence] towards Georgia’s occupied regions, including Abkhazia and Tskhinvali is the paramount importance,” he stressed in his twenty minute speech.

Garibashvili promised EU diplomats that Georgia pledged to work with partners in Brussels and all EU member states to ensure the eastern partnership was a successful EU project.

"We pledge to further consolidate our democratic achievements and remain the model of successful democratic development in the region,” Garibashvili said.

The 31-year-old is the world’s youngest Prime Minister. He believed Georgia would sign the Association Agreement with the EU by August this year.

"We are exploring new ways of cooperating with the EU and plan to evaluate early results of the AA agreement at the Riga conference later this year,” Garibashvili said.