davit-zalkaniani

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Davit Zalkaliani. (Ministry photo.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia held a final round of negotiations about an association agreement with the EU March 21-22.

This latest round, which dealt with the political part of the agreement, saw some progress which means that Georgia is better prepared for the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius in November, where the final text of the agreement will be agreed on.

Georgia started negotiations about an Association Agreement in July, 2010. It will replace an agreement with the EU from 1996 about partnership and cooperation.

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Davit Zalkaliani said after the last and fourteenth round of negotiations in Brussels that the association agreement will be a new level of cooperation with the EU, which will also create a better legal framework for cooperation.

According to the ministry, the agreement is more comprehensive, politically stronger and deeper by its content which contains strong mechanisms for EU integration.

Davit Zalkaliani says the agreement will be binding for Georgia and leads to legislation being closer to the EU and its standards.