Parliament official highlights France’s role as “important partner” ahead of French FM visit
The top French diplomat will meet Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's European Union Integration Committee, on Friday said France was an “important partner” with a “particular importance” in shaping positions of the European Union, ahead of the visit of the French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna to Georgia.
The Minister is set to visit the country today to meet top Georgian officials, with Botchorishvili saying the trip was made significant by France’s traditionally “modest position” on EU enlargement.
This visit is also an expression of their support”, she added.
The top French diplomat will meet Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili.
The French Embassy in Georgia on Tuesday said the Minister expressed her support for peace in the South Caucasus region and Georgia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and European integration.
Relations between Georgia and France and prospects for future cooperation were discussed on Wednesday in a meeting between the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Sheraz Gasri, the French Ambassador to Georgia.
French and German ambassadors to Georgia, Sheraz Gasri and Peter Fischer, on Friday said the European Union had “opened its arms” to Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova in last year’s decisions on the Associated Trio countries’ aspirations for joining the bloc, in a joint statement released on the first anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will visit Georgia on Friday to meet the country’s officials, the French foreign office said.
Georgia will receive €100 million from the French Development Agency to co-finance its human capital development programme as part of the agreement signed on Tuesday between the AFD, the ministry of finance of Georgia and the French embassy.
Anri Okhanashvili, the Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee in the Georgian Parliament, on Friday said it was time for the European Union to “put an end to attempts of the domestic radicals to polarise” the political scene in the country and grant it the membership candidate status “based on merit”.
Catherine Colonna, the French Foreign Minister, on Friday arrived in Georgia to mark the first trip of a French top diplomat to Tbilisi in five years, as the visiting official was welcomed by Teimuraz Janjalia, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Friday highlighted the importance of the visit of the top French diplomat to the country, and noted that France was an “unwavering” partner in building the country's “European future”.
The bilateral relations between Georgia and France and the European perspective of the country were discussed on Friday in a meeting between Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Catherine Colonna, the French Foreign Minister, who is on an official visit to Georgia.
Georgia’s European Union integration and France’s support in this regard were discussed on Friday in a meeting between Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili and Catherine Colonna, the French Foreign Minister.