Georgian FM highlights “active”, “dynamic” EU cooperation in Parliament address

Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Friday highlighted the Government’s “very active” and “quite dynamic” cooperation with the European Union, but noted the country’s eventual membership in the bloc was “up to each member state”.

In his comments at the Parliament, Darchiashvili noted the cooperation with the country’s European partners was continuing for the latter purpose.

During the past year, an important part of our foreign policy was focused on the deepening of bilateral relations with friendly and partner countries. Of course, in terms of European integration, we work very actively in the Georgia-EU bilateral format, we cooperate quite dynamically, but the final membership of Georgia in the EU is up to each member state”, Darchiashvili told lawmakers. 

“Therefore, one of our main priorities was to, on the one hand, work very actively in bilateral formats with EU member states in order to strengthen and deepen our bilateral relations, and on the other hand, to mobilise European partners as much as possible so that Georgia can successfully follow the path of European integration”, he continued. 

The top Georgian diplomat also stressed cooperation with the United States - which he called “our main strategic partner” - by saying the ties over the past year had been “very interesting” and “result-oriented”, before adding the work on the cooperation was continuing.