Economy Minister: European integration “long-term process” that must eventually lead to EU membership
Davitashvili said the country’s European aspirations were a “key strategic direction” for Georgia, pointing out the integration plan consisted of “many components” including the 2017-implemented visa-free travel to EU states. Photo: Ministry of Economy
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Georgia’s European integration is a long-term process that must eventually lead to a full European Union membership, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Levan Davitashvili said on Monday.
Davitashvili said the country’s European aspirations were a “key strategic direction” for Georgia, pointing out the integration plan consisted of “many components” including the 2017-implemented visa-free travel to EU states. Georgia marked the fifth anniversary of the visa agreement on Monday.
The relationship with Europe that started five years ago in terms of visa liberalisation is, of course, a long-term process that must eventually lead to a full EU membership. The Government is doing everything in this regard and great progress has been made,” he noted.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said Georgia’s Government had done “a lot of work” to achieve visa-free travel with the EU for its citizens and expressed gratitude to “everyone who has contributed to achieving” abolition of the visa requirement for EU travel.
The Government head noted Georgian nationals had paid over 1.5 million visits to countries of the Union since, calling the figure a “concrete, tangible result after the signing of [Georgia’s] [2014] Association Agreement with the EU.”
The visa-free travel with the European Union is a “wonderful opportunity for enhancing people-to-people contacts”, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani tweeted on Monday on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the agreement with the EU.
Georgia’s Government did “a lot of work” to achieve visa-free travel with the European Union for its citizens, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said at Monday’s Government meeting on the fifth anniversary of the agreement.
Georgia’s “greatest victory” will be “its success in building a prosperous, secure, vibrant democracy”, United States Ambassador Kelly Degnan said on Sunday at a Tbilisi concert marking the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The Georgia-US relationship today is “as strong as ever", and our friendship is based on “shared values”, said Irakli Garibashvili, the Prime Minister of Georgia, on the celebration of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between two countries.
The Georgian Government is “working intensively” with companies from Britain, Germany and other countries based in Ukraine and Russia to relocate their enterprises to Georgia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili announced on Monday.
The judiciary in Georgia is independent of political processes and court decisions bear no political impact, Levan Davitashvili, the Georgian Economy Minister and Vice Prime Minister, said on Monday following claims by supporters of Nika Gvaramia, the former Rustavi 2 channel Director, of persecution following his sentencing by Tbilisi City Court for abuse of powers.