The Press Secretary of the President of Georgia summarized the important events of the past week during her traditional briefing today. Manana Manjgaladze spoke about Mikheil Saakashvili’s visit to the United States, where the President addressed the 66^th UN General Assembly. Additionally, the Press Secretary drew attention to the bilateral meetings held in the United States. According to her, aside from the political format, important meetings with representatives of business were held in the investment format.

Manana Manjgaladze also mentioned Mikheil Saakashvili’s visit to Poland, where the President will attend the Eastern Partnership Summit. The Summit, hosted by Warsaw this year, will be attended by the leaders of Eastern European countries as well as the leaders of the EU and several Heads of the EU Member States.

“I would like to stress once again that, Georgia gives special meaning to development of close and all-embracing relations with the European Union as well as deepening cooperation in terms of trade-economic areas. In this sense, we hope that an agreement about the beginning of negotiations regarding free trade relations will be reached before the end of the year. I think that this will be a specific and successful  step on the road to integration into the EU. Several bilateral meetings will be held during the summit” – noted Manana Manjgaladze.

In terms of foreign relations, the Press Secretary drew attention to the visit of the President of France planned in October.

She touched on the issue of agriculture, namely the 2011 vintage, which has already reached an active phase. The vintage will last until the end of October in Kakheti and then move to Racha.

“According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 50% of the crops have already been harvested and stored. The most important thing is that the vintage is going on in an organized fashion and the state is participating in the process. The government already has the experience and tradition of actively participating in the vintage. The farmers are receiving financial assistance from the government, which ensures the timely harvesting and storing of the crops, in an uninterrupted manner.” – stated the Press Speaker.

As she noted, based on the preliminary information, if the farmers harvested 102 thousand tons of grapes last year, they should be able to reach 150 thousand tons this year.