On the 12th of November 2014, the Georgian Foreign Ministry hosted a meeting held between the Foreign Minister, Ms Tamar Beruchashvili, and the Head of the European Union Delegation to Georgia, Mr Janos Herman, reports GHN based on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr Herman began by noting that the European Union has responded positively to the appointment of Ms Beruchashvili as Georgia's new Foreign Minister, particularly as her appointment sends a clear message to the EU that Georgia will not only continue to follow its European and Euro-Atlantic course, but that the process of the country's integration with Europe will intensify.
During the meeting, Ms Beruchashvili confirmed, once again, that Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic course remains unchanged and indeed that the country has no alternative. She also underlined that the Georgian government's goal is to make the country's relations with the EU and with individual EU member states more active and dynamic.
The Georgian Foreign Minister also emphasized the fact that her government wishes to see ‘more EU in Georgia and more Georgia in the EU'. In this context, she and Mr Herman focused upon the importance of the need to successfully hold a first meeting of the Association Council on the 17th of November and to identify concrete results that have been achieved in the area of visa liberalization.
The two then went on to discuss the priorities of co-operation between Georgia and the European Union, notably: 1) the provisional implementation of the Association Agreement since the 1st of September 2014, which has created a completely new reality in relations between Georgia and the EU, and 2) the successful completion of the requirements of the first phase of Georgia's Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP) with the EU and the importance of moving on to the Plan's second phase.
It was also noted that this is an important step towards the introduction of a visa-free travel regime with the EU, and that the Georgian government is ready to make every effort towards the goal of intensifying co-operation.
Ms Beruchashvili and Mr Herman also focused upon the EU's role in the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Georgia, notably through the Geneva International Discussions and the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia.
In conclusion, the Head of the EU Delegation wished the new Georgian Foreign Minister every success in her future work, and the two agreed to actively co-operate towards the effective realization of Georgia's European integration agenda.
