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Euro-Atlantic integration priority for new Georgian government

“Tangible progress on the path towards integration will promote the future consolidation of democracy in Georgia,” Georgia’s Prime Minister candidate Irakli Garibashvili said

Irakli Garibashvili EPA/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE

Irakli Garibashvili

© EPA/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE

TBILISI, November 20, 15:28 /ITAR-TASS/. Candidate for the post of Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili presented to the national parliament on Wednesday a program of the country’s new government. He said at a plenary meeting of the parliament in Kutaisi that “the aspiration for the European Union and Euro-Atlantic integration are priorities for Georgia’s new government.”

Garibashvili noted that after initialing an EU-Georgia association agreement at the EU Eastern Partnership Program summit in Vilnius, “the government will continue active efforts for signing this agreement before autumn 2014.”

Touching upon Georgia’s integration in NATO, Garibashvili said that “the government will continue to actively implement the annual national program (ANP) and hold meetings planned within the framework of the NATO-Georgia commission.” “Tangible progress on the path towards integration will promote the future consolidation of democracy in Georgia,” he said.

The candidate for the prime minister’s post stated that the government “will exert serious efforts aimed at the deepening of the highest-level dialogue with the United States upon trade and investment, including initiating the signing of a free trade agreement between the two countries.” According to him, Georgia’s cooperation with the United States as the main ally of the country would be continued in line with the terms of the Charter on Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

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