Georgia’s EU mission head: Association Council meeting of “particular importance”

Vakhtang Makharoblishvili, Georgia's Representative to the European Union, on Tuesday said the Georgia-EU Association Council meeting, scheduled for later today, was of “particular importance” as the first meeting after Georgia receiving the European perspective in its bid for EU membership.

In his remarks over the matter, Makharoblishvili noted the meeting would also focus on issues of conflict resolution, regional security, and the situation in the Russian-occupied Georgian territories.

We will talk about the political dialogue, the dynamics that exist between Georgia and the European Union. This is the first meeting to be held after Georgia receiving the European perspective. Therefore, this meeting and this discussion will be of particular importance and in this context we will talk about the steps and the relations that we should build and develop between Georgia and the European Union”, Makharoblishvili said.

On June 24, the European Council granted the membership candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, and said it would be ready to grant the same status to Georgia once the outstanding priorities outlined by the European Commission were addressed by the Georgian Government.

On July 1, the ruling Georgian Dream party presented its strategy for fulfilling the 12-point conditions outlined by the European Council for granting the country the European Union membership candidate status.