Georgian, EU foreign ministers discuss EU Eastern Policy

Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze is in Warsaw, Poland today to attend the meeting of the first diplomats from several countries, including the Eastern Partnership (EaP) and the Visegrad Group (V4).

V4 is an alliance of four central European states - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, while the EaP countries are Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.

The future of the EaP and EU Eastern Policy will be the main topic of today’s talks.

#EUEaPWarsaw is about to start pic.twitter.com/rpg3jvP1qK

— Tigran Balayan (@tbalayan) April 12, 2017

The traditional meeting of V4 and EaP ministers, which precedes the 5th EaP Summit scheduled to be held in Brussels on November 24, is organised by Poland under its presidency of the Visegrad Group.

In addition to the heads of diplomacy of the V4 and the six EaP countries, the foreign ministers of Croatia, Estonia, Romania and Sweden will also be present having been invited by Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski. Also in attendance will be the EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and accession negotiations, Johannes Hahn.

#EUEaPWarsaw: follow. constructive discussions, gathering f. the #familyphoto.Working #together to deliver concrete results f.citizens #EaPpic.twitter.com/YKMQLGugEj

— Johannes Hahn (@JHahnEU) April 12, 2017

Today’s session will be devoted to preparations for the EaP in November and the future of the Partnership as well as, more broadly, the EU's Eastern Policy. The expectations for the summit on the part of individual Eastern Partnership countries are also to be discussed.

The main themes of the talks will also include prospects for the "expansion of transport and infrastructure links between the EU and Eastern Partnership countries," which Wawrzyniak said "is one of the "priorities of the Eastern Partnership policy decided on at the previous Eastern Partnership summit in Riga in 2015.”

Georgian (R), Romanian Foreign Ministers meet in Warsaw. Photo: MFA of Georgia

Apart from participating in the session, Janelidze held bilateral meetings with his Central European counterparts. He met with the Foreign Minister of Slovakia Miroslav Lajcak and Foreign Minister of Romania Teodor Melescanu.

Janelidze briefed them about the expectations Georgia has about the upcoming EaP summit, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said following the meeting.