Thursday, March 13 2014

Tbilisi. On March 10, Georgian Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to Lithuania, Khatuna Salukvadze, addressed a plenary session
of the Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament), which had been convened to discuss the
results of Lithuania's recent presidency of the Council of the European Union,
the Georgian Foreign Ministry reports.  
.

As the ministry informs, in her speech,
the Georgian Ambassador to Lithuania focused upon the importance and
irreversibility of Georgia's European integration, and paid particular
attention to results of the Vilnius Summit, to Georgia's progress in  'rapprochement' with the European Union, and
to the challenges faced by the countries of the EU Eastern Partnership.

Salukvadze also emphasized the importance
of Lithuania's role as one of Georgia's most active supporters, and thanked the
Lithuanian government for its support and assistance.

'The Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius
was a historic event, since following this summit that Georgia-EU relations
entered a qualitatively higher level,' Salukvadze declared.

The EU-Georgia Associated Agreement was
initialed at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius in November the last
year.

According to the ministry, the
parliamentary discussions involved the Lithuanian Prime Minister, Algirdas
Butkevicius, the Speaker of the 'Seimas', Loreta Grauziniene, Vice-Speakers and
other Members of Parliament.

It should be emphasized that Georgia was
the only Eastern Partnership country to be represented with the status of
'rapporteur' during this plenary session of the Lithuanian 'Seimas', dedicated
to discussion of results of Lithuania's presidency of the Council of the
European Union.

In 2010, the Ministers' Council of 27 EU
member states issued the European Commission a mandate for holding talks on
making bilateral associated agreements between the European Union and Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia. After coming into effect, the Associated Agreement will
replace current bilateral agreements on partnership and cooperation.

The EU Eastern Partnership initiative aims
at bringing Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine closer
to the EU.

Proposed by the EU on the initiative of
Poland and Sweden, the Eastern Partnership was officially launched in Prague,
on May 8, 2009.