A meeting was held between the President of Georgia – Mikheil Saakashvili and the President of the European Commission – Jose Manuel Barroso within the scope of the forum “European Development Days” held in Warsaw. The sides discussed the issue of beginning negotiations regarding free trade between Georgia and the countries of the EU, visa free travel, and the process of integrating Georgia into the European Union.
Mikheil Saakashvili thanked Jose Manuel Barroso for the support over the years and called the beginning of negotiations regarding free trade a breakthrough. The President of Georgia expressed content regarding the fact that specific steps have been taken towards the negotiations on visa free travel. The Head of State noted that beginning negotiations regarding these issues shows major political support for our country.
“We are very grateful to the President of European Commission because he has been a long standing supporter of Georgia for all these years and he has done remarkable things. He promised two years ago that we would start negotiations on safety which is a big, big breakthrough for us. We are heading towards visa free travel. Negotiations start early next year and also we are very grateful that the issue of occupation is raised at every summit. We just had the European Parliament pass a significant resolution about this. In addition, there was a new resolution regarding Russia just two days ago, when once again it was strongly underlined that the occupation of our regions should end. And I’m sure that with Europe’s support it will end and we’ll progress with further integration. “– stated the President of Georgia.
During the meeting Jose Manuel Barroso once again expressed openly his political support for the further integration of Georgia into the European Union and noted that this process will continue despite the challenges that Europe is currently facing. According to the President of the European Commission, a delegation assembled by the European Commission will arrive in Georgia in March 2012 and study all of the necessary issues in order to start negotiations regarding visa free travel.
“We have discussed overall relations between Georgia and the European Union and they are very good. Now, just last Monday, we launched new negotiations regarding the DCFTA (Deep Cmprehensive Free Trade Agreement) so our relationships are good and progressing well. Basically, these were the topics we have discussed and we also discussed the situation in Europe in general including the region as well as Georgia and its neighborhood.” – stated the President of the European Commission.