Latvia declares full support to Georgia’s EU association

Georgia is an Eastern Partnership front-runner, says Latvian Foreign Minister and vows his country will do "its best” to help Georgia reach its European aspirations.

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics made his supportive statement two days before the ratification of the Georgia-European Union (EU) Association Agreement (AA) by the European Parliament (EP).

Rinkevics said he was sure the EP would ratify the document as "I do not see any obstacles in this regard.”

"We are moving forward to the full implementation of the Association Agreement,” the Latvian Minister said.

"I believe that Georgia has made tremendous progress in terms of the implementation of reforms, but it's just the start and not the end. Too much time is needed in order to carry out all the reforms. Maybe not at the Riga summit, however, Georgia has a prospect to be closer to the European Union.”

"Of course, we have a discussion with the Georgian government on many issues, including the judiciary-related topic and some aspects of the implementation of the Association Agreement, but Georgia and Moldova are frontrunners of the Eastern Partnership and we’ll do everything to support you."

The ratification of the Georgia-EU AA was scheduled for December 18 at the EP plenary session. One day earlier the EP planned to adopt two important resolutions in support of Georgia.