Georgian PM to participate in Eastern Partnership Summit next month

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili will take part in the upcoming fifth Eastern Partnership Summit (EaP) in Brussels, Belgium on November 24.

Kvirikashvili has been officially invited by the President of the European Council Donald Tusk, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas.

The Brussels Eastern Partnership Summit will provide the leaders with an opportunity to take stock of developments and to discuss the ways of strengthening our bilateral, multilateral and sectoral cooperation, in order to deliver tangible results for citizens”, the invitation letter reads.

The European leaders believe since the last summit in 2015 "partnership has further advanced, on the basis of the priority areas we agreed in Riga, the revised European Neighbourhood Policy and the European Union (EU) Global Strategy”.

Association Agreements between the EU and three Partners have now fully entered into force. Significant efforts have also allowed us to take forward visa liberalisation with these Partners”, they said.

Heads of state or government from the EU member states and the six Eastern partner countries will discuss the achievements and discuss how to further strengthen cooperation in the four priority areas agreed in Riga:

• Stronger economy: economic development and better market opportunities;
• Stronger governance: strengthening of institutions and good governance;
• Stronger connectivity: enhancing interconnections, notably in the areas of transport and energy;
• Stronger society: increasing mobility and contacts between people.

Launched in 2009, the EaP aims at promoting "political association and economic integration" between the EU and the six Eastern European partner countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.