Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday highlighted France's support for the country’s European Union integration path.
In his comments, after a panel discussion at the Paris Peace Forum, Garibashvili emphasised his “good meeting” with the French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday and noted the support of France for the country's European integration path was “undoubtedly very important”.
[I] informed him [Macron] about the current state of affairs in the country, reforms and processes that we all went through together. I also told President Macron that this process [of implementing reforms] does not end and it is a process that must continue. We will continue it. The country is moving to a new stage but the process must continue and we must achieve even more success”, he said.
He congratulated the Georgian citizens on the European Commission’s decision to recommend the European Council to grant the country the membership candidate status, by saying it was a “great success”.
The PM also highlighted the country’s “tangible progress” on the EU integration path, in particular the 2014 Association Agreement signed with the bloc, the free trade agreement and the visa-free travel to EU countries.
“Our ultimate goal, of course, is to open accession talks and then finally join the European Union that, of course, will take years, but we must prepare our country for this”, he concluded.