Georgia, EU sign Association Agreement
By Nazrin Gadimova
An official initialing ceremony for the Association Agreement between Georgia and the European Union was held on November 29.
The ceremony was part of the Eastern Partnership Summit, which is held in Vilnius on November 28-29.
Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze and spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton signed the document.
Georgia's Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht also signed a part of the document which is related to a comprehensive free trade area.
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry held the technical initialing of the agreement on November 28.
Georgia's First Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani signed a part of the document which is related to association with the EU, and Georgian Deputy Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Mikhail Janelidze signed part of it which is related to free trade.
It took several hours to sign more than 1,000 pages of the document.
Georgian side is expects the agreement to be signed in September 2014.
Georgian Foreign Ministry has stated that the Association Agreement can be roughly divided into three parts: political cooperation, industrial cooperation, and a deep and comprehensive free trade area (DCFTA).
The political part of the agreement opens cooperation in the following areas: protection and promotion of common European values, the rule of law, democracy, and human rights, respect for the principles of international law and sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders, promotion of peaceful settlement of conflicts, deepening political dialogue and cooperation towards local reforms and regional stability, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, fight against organized crime, money laundering, corruption, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and others.
The second part, relating to industrial policy, includes modernization of all spheres and introduction of European standards in the areas of transport, energy, agriculture, tourism, health care, and others.
Issues related to trade involve creating a deep and comprehensive free trade zone between Georgia and the European Union. DCFTA includes elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers, and settlement of a wide range of issues related to trade.