EU Council President: “Georgia is a close partner of the European Union”

Georgia’s close partnership with the European Union (EU) was highlighted at a meeting between Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and EU Council president Donald Tusk in Belgium today.

Today’s meeting was the final official duty of Margvelashvili during his Brussels visit before he returns home. His two-day jaunt was his first official visit to Brussels where he met with Euro-Atlantic top officials and discussed Georgia’s European future.

The EU Council president said his meeting today with the Georgian official before next week’s Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit in Riga was "well-timed”.

My remarks after the meeting with President of #Georgia@MargvelashviliGhttp://t.co/cDWkhTWKNgpic.twitter.com/T00j0Y12DJ

— Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) May 12, 2015

Georgia is a close partner of the European Union. With the Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga just around the corner our meeting was well-timed. I assured President Margvelashvili that the Riga Summit will reaffirm the European Union's strong commitment to the Eastern Partnership and the objective of developing strengthened, closer, and differentiated relations between the EU and its sovereign, independent Eastern partner states,” Tusk said.

After today’s meeting, the Georgian official took to his Twitter account and said the pair had discussed Georgia’s "loaded” European agenda and the EU-Georgia Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP).

Meeting with @eucopresident#DonaldTusk.Discussed #Georgia's loaded #Europian agenda,EU-GEO Visa Liberalisation plan pic.twitter.com/Hz7wpxPlDz

— President Of Georgia (@MargvelashviliG) May 12, 2015

The two officials also held a joint press conference for media, where Margvelashvili invited Tusk to Georgia so he could personally learn about and see the developments and "all the progress we have achieved in Georgia”.

At the meeting Tusk highlighted that the EU-Georgia Association Agreement (AA) was contributing to a boost in the EU-Georgia relationship and the agreement would help Georgia "unlock its full potential”.

I also praised the President for the significant progress his country has made so far with regard to meeting the requirements for visa free travel to the EU. The remaining steps are clearly identified and we agreed to redouble our efforts to successfully finalise the process as soon as feasible. We will continue working towards our common goal: visa free travel to the EU for all of Georgia's citizens,” said the EU Council president.

As well as meeting Tusk today, Margvelashvili also met with King of Belgium, King Philippe. During that meeting the officials discussed the relations between the two countries and King Philippe expressed his interest toward the situation in the region.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili meets with King Philippe of Belgium.

The Georgian President also invited King Philippe to Georgia.

On a separate note, the Georgian official met other EU-Atlantic officials while in Brussels over the past two days. Margvelashvili noted his visit "clearly expressed” Georgia’s strategic decision to join the EU and NATO.

We have heard the NATO Secretary-General's statement on the fact that a particular attention will be paid to the implementation of the Substantial NATO-Georgia Package. We are actively preparing for the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit in Riga with respect to the implementation of the stages of the Association Agreement with the EU.”

While abroad Margvelashvili met with the European Commissioner for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic and president of the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry Richard Weber.