Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said that Georgia must gain candidate status for EU membership by 2030 at a presentation of his ministry’s 10-year action plan earlier today.
Zalkaliani noted that the goal is to apply for EU membership in 2024 and to get the status of a candidate for membership by 2030.
Everyone is well aware of the ambitious goal that the [Georgian] government has announced - to apply for EU membership in 2024. But that is not the end of our main goal, then by 2030, we should get the status of a candidate for membership,” said David Zalkaliani.
Applying for???????? membership in 2024& receiving candidate status by 2030 are important constituents of????????'s foreign policy - accentuated given topic at the presentation of the 10-year Action Plan of the @MFAgovge. Talked about the useful mechanisms in this direction - #AA, #EaP, #A3 pic.twitter.com/2V7kI6q7Yn
— David Zalkaliani (@DZalkaliani) August 9, 2021
He also underscored that the negotiation with the EU should be started in line with the process of gaining the status of a candidate for membership to transpose its legislation onto Georgian legislation.
Minister Zalkaliani stated that the goal of getting the status of a candidate for EU membership is possible to be achieved through ‘the implementation of the coordinated measures, concept and action plan developed under the leadership of the [Georgian] Prime Minister within the framework of the Georgian EU Integration Commission,’ Zalkaliani said.
Zalkaliani also stressed the importance of the Eastern Partnership Economic and Investment Plan of the EU which offers €3.9 billion to help Georgia improve transport and logistics connectivity.
The Georgian government announced its plan to apply for EU membership in 2024 before the parliamentary elections of 2020.