Georgia’s voice is heard at Eastern Partnership meeting

Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze made her presence known at the 4th informal dialogue meeting of Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries in Baku, Azerbaijan, today.

Regional challenges facing the countries and ensuring energy stability in Europe were key topics discussed at the two-day event, which was also attended by EaP Energy Ministers and European Union (EU) officials, including European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule, EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger and others.

The goal of the Eastern Partnership program was the rapprochement of the EU and former Soviet states Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia and Belarus.

The program envisaged a significant increase in the level of political interaction, promoting interaction of the former Soviet republics into the EU economy, increasing the volume of financial aid to the partner countries and strengthening the energy sector within each country and in Europe as a whole.

Georgia’s Foreign Minister delivered speech at the meeting, in which she highlighted issues relating to Georgia’s implementation of the Association Agreement (AA) it made with the European Union (EU). She also outlined the Georgian Government’s plans for the 2015 Riga Eastern Partnership Summit.

In terms of the global energy environment, participants discussed what was the cheapest and the cleanest form of energy, the most energy efficient, as well as how to diversify energy supply routes.

The EU EaP program – an initiative of Poland and Sweden – was adopted and approved at the EU Summit in Brussels in 2008.