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Association deal takes Georgia-EU cooperation to qualitatively new level

Georgia and the EU intend to initial the association deal at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius

TBILISI, November 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Georgia’s association agreement with the European Union is “a comprehensive, politically and substantially more strong document that takes cooperation in all priority areas to a qualitative new level,” Georgian Foreign Minister Maya Pandzhikidze told reporters on Wednesday.

At the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius Georgia and the EU would initial the association deal, she said, adding that “this is an agreement of new generation as unlike other similar documents it envisages important and real mechanisms of rapprochement between Georgia and the European Union.”

“The association agreement does not mean Georgia’s membership of the EU, although it envisages such a high level of rapprochement that its effective implementation makes Georgia’s Europeanization irreversible,” Pandzhikidze said.

To fulfill its association agreement obligations Georgia should adjust its legislation with that of the EU and strengthen Georgia’s relevant institutions, she said.

The yet-to-be-signed document would replace the partnership and cooperation agreement between Georgia and the EU signed back in 1996 and would create “new legal frames of cooperation,” she said.

Along with political aspect the association agreement envisages gradual economic integration, as an agreement on free trade between Georgia and EU member-states is an integral part of the association deal. This agreement will be also initialed in Vilnius on November 28.