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Georgian Prime Minister meets with European high officials in Brussels

Leaders from the EU member states and the six Eastern Partner countries have convened in Brussels today for the fifth Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit. Photo: Kvirikashvili’s press office.
Agenda.ge, 24 Nov 2017 - 15:22, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili is participating in the fifth Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels, Belgium today.

On the sideline of the event he held bilateral meetings with different European officials.

Kvirikashvili also met with President Jean-Claude Juncker of the European Commission.

The parties discussed the achievements of Georgia as the Eastern Partnership’s flagship, positive development dynamics in Georgia-EU relations, and the bilateral relations agenda, Kvirikashvili’s press office said.

As it was pointed out during the meeting, Georgia is ready to take even more active steps to further draw closer to the EU.

Juncker commended Georgia’s reforms and congratulated Kvirikashvili on the successful municipal elections.

Kvirikashvili also held a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Juha Sipila.

The meeting concentrated upon the issues on the agenda of Eastern Partnership Summit as well as the bilateral cooperation across various sectors.

"The parties discussed the prospects of intensification of economic relations and growing dynamics of trade turnover, which exceeded 41% in 2017”, Kvirikashvili’s press office said.

In this context, particular attention was paid to the role of the joint business forum that was held in Tbilisi and the Georgian-Finnish Business Council that was founded in Helsinki. It was noted that the existing positive dynamic will continue.

Kvirikashvili informed his Finnish counterpart on the progress achieved by Georgia on the path of European and Euro-Atlantic integration, implemented reforms and the leading positions of the country in various international ratings.

He also congratulated the Prime Minister and people of Finland on the 100th anniversary of independence.

Prime Minister Sipila reaffirmed his strong support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia.

A meeting was held with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko too.

The parties discussed the Eastern Partnership Summit, along with bilateral relations and the European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations of Georgia and Ukraine.

At the beginning of the meeting, the leaders emphasised the friendly relations and strategic partnership between the two countries.

"I am delighted to meet with my partner and dear friend. I am happy to see that our political, economic, and cultural relations are developing very actively. I deeply appreciate our personal relations, including the recent SMS about winning a football game. I am convinced that our relations have immense potential for growth”, the Poroshenko said.

Kvirikashvili spoke of the potential for further developing bilateral relations.

"We welcome the growing bilateral relations. For us, our presence here is very important. We have similar ambitions, European and Euro-Atlantic goals, which define not only the external but also the internal agendas of our countries”, he said.
"We are here to discuss our future relations, and the potential of our bilateral relations is much deeper and much wider”.

The parties also discussed regional challenges and the situation in the occupied territories, and expressed mutual support of the two countries’ territorial integrity and sovereignty.

While in Brussels, Kvirikashvili is also scheduled to meet with the Swedish and French prime ministers and the Latvian President.