TBILISI, DFWatch – The prime ministers of Georgia and Lithuania today signed a memorandum of understanding.

The MoU deals with cooperation within local government between Lithuania’s national assembly, the Seimas’s Committee on State Administration and Local Government and the corresponding committee in the Georgian parliament.

Lithuania’s prime minister Andrius Kubilius said at a press conference after the meeting that he hopes the day when Georgia will become NATO member is not far away.

He noted that Georgia is a strong partner of NATO, and highlighted the size of the Georgian contingent in NATO operations. Georgia is one of the leading countries in this regards.

Andrius Kubilius expressed hope that the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago will be important and successful for aspirant countries as Georgia.

Giorgi Baramidze, Georgia’s vice prime minister, also expressed hope that certain progress will be achieved at the Chicago summit in terms of Georgia’s NATO integration.

At the press conference, Baramidze noted that Lithuania is one of the most important partners for Georgia on the way to NATO integration. He emphasized that in the second half of 2013, Lithuania will have the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

“We hope by this time, negotiations about visa liberalization, association and free trade, which we started this year, will get closer to an end. So cooperation with Lithuania in regards to EU integration will be very important.”

He said that Lithuania is very active in widening Georgia’s group of friends and to strengthen the support for Georgia ahead of the Chicago summit.

Travelling with Kubilius was a delegation from the Seimas’s Committee on State Administration and Local Government.