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Estonia expresses support for Georgia’ EU integration

13 January 2015 12:27 (UTC+04:00)
Estonia expresses support for Georgia’ EU integration

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

The Estonian prime minister pledged to support Georgia’s efforts to improve its plans for a visa-free travel with the European Union (EU) at the upcoming Riga Summit in May.

Taavi Roivas, the youngest European leader who is on a two-day official visit to Georgia held meeting with his Georgian counterpart in Tbilisi.

"Establishing a visa-free travel is actually possible and Georgia will have Estonia’s support on this way,” Roivas said at the meeting with Irakli Garibashvili.

Roivas said there might not be 100 percent guarantees, but Estonia was a supporter of Georgia, as the country has perfectly met all the criteria required for a visa-free travel.

Deepening of bilateral economic cooperation, Georgia’s EU integration and relations with NATO were the main issues on agenda of the two top officials' meeting.

"The Georgians and Estonians are good friends,” Roivas said at the press conference following the meeting.

"We achieved a very good result after shooting a joint film,” he added, referring to the Estonian-Georgian co-production Tangerines (Manderinebi) movie, which has claimed many prestigious international awards.

The Estonian PM said his country was ready to share its experiences in different directions with Georgia, including the membership at NATO and EU integration.

Roivas also highlighted Estonia’s support for Georgia’s sovereignty and acknowledged Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, two breakaway areas under the Russian occupation, as integral parts of Georgia.

Georgia-Russia relations

Georgia-Russia relations were high on the agenda of meeting of the premiers, as Garibashvili said Georgia's economic and trade relations have recently improved with Russia, but the political situation remains the same.

"Russia continues to occupy our territories. Despite our constructive steps, Russia has not shown the same spirit and the treaty with Abkhazia is a clear example of it. The same document is being prepared to be signed with South Ossetia as well,” Garibashvili said.

Furthermore, Garibashvili noted that Georgia’s European choice was in the best interest of everyone and not a challenge to any country, including Russia.

"Our European path is not directed against Russia. This is a sovereign choice of the Georgian people and state. The Georgian people should decide in what direction we should move,” he said.

The Georgian PM also underlined that Georgia would not make any compromise in exchange of its territorial integrity.

The Estonian premier is expected to meet Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Parliament Speaker David Usupashvili during his visit.

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