Association agreement to be ratified by late 2014
By Victoria Moiseyeva
The Georgian foreign minister said ratification of the EU Association Agreement with the EU countries has been suspended due to summer holiday.
"Only four countries managed to ratify it, namely, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania," Maja Panjikidze stressed.
"I am sure that this process will continue in other countries in September," she said, adding that the vast majority of the countries will ratify the agreement by the end of the year.
"We had consultations with many countries. They know our position. They believe that this process should speed up. The second speaker of the Austrian Parliament, who was on a visit to Tbilisi, promised that the country will quickly ratify the agreement," Panjikidze noted.
Regarding the EU representatives' statements, Panjikidze considers this as an important support for Georgia.
"The authors of the statement are friends of Georgia," she said. "They are well aware of importance of the Association Agreement for Georgia."
It does not hamper the temporary use of the agreement due to the fact that most countries have not yet ratified it, she stressed.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, President of European Council Herman Van Rompuy and President of the EU Commission Jose Manuel Barroso signed an association agreement between Georgia and EU in Brussels, on June 27.
Georgia first put forth the signing of an association agreement with the EU at the Vilnius summit dedicated to the European Union's 'Eastern Partnership' countries - former Soviet states on November 29, 2013.
The EU believes that Association Agreement with Georgia will significantly deepen political and economic ties between the two sides with a long-term perspective of closer political association and economic integration.
"The Association Agreements aims to deepen political and economic relations between the EU and the other signatories and to gradually integrate these countries in the EU's Internal Market, the largest single market in the world," the EU reported.
Furthermore, the EU statement in particular noted that Georgia will benefit from new trading opportunities and easier access to the EU market.
The agreement should allow the Georgian economy to catch up with the EU in terms of competitiveness and thereby gradually find its place in the world economy. This will open up new opportunities not only in the EU-Georgia trade, but in Georgia's trade with the rest of the world, given the worldwide recognition of EU norms and standards.
The EU also signed the association agreement with Ukraine and Moldova. The EU and Ukraine signed only the economic section of the agreement.