Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The Georgian government welcomes the European Parliament's resolution, adopted in support of initialing the association agreement with the European Union, which emphasizes the EU's commitment to the participating countries in the Eastern Partnership program and the European aspirations of Georgia.

According to the Georgian government's statement released on October 24, "the resolution adopted before the Eastern Partnership's Vilnius summit is a recognition of the progress achieved by Georgia in the field of modernization, and an acknowledgment of meeting the requirements of the association agreement, and shows that the European Parliament supports initialing the Association Agreement at the forthcoming summit".

"We warmly welcome the European Parliament's support of the democratic reforms held in Georgia," the statement reads. "We still have much work to do and the association agreement will play a key role in accelerating and deepening the process of reform."

According to the government's statement, the resolution was adopted on the eve of the presidential elections which will be held October 27.

Georgia's Prime Minister Maia Panjikidze had previously said that after initialing, Georgia had much work to do for signing this agreement.

According to Panjikidze, the Georgian side is proud that initialing the association agreement, and signing the free trade agreement with the EU will be done at the Vilnius summit, held in November.

The Prime Minister said that the EU will be watching Georgia, because initialing should be followed by signing the agreement.

Georgia expects that initialing the association agreement with the EU at the Eastern Partnership Summit be held in Vilnius on November 28-29. The Georgian government announced that it will try its best to achieve certain results.

Georgia started negotiating on the Association Agreement in July 2010. It will replace the 1996 agreement with the EU on partnership and cooperation.