Georgia, Tbilisi, Sept. 9 /Trend, N. Kirtzkhalia/
Georgia will sign an Association Agreement with the European Union by autumn 2014, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia David Zalkaliani told journalists on Monday, commenting on the meeting of Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in Latvia.
"After the meeting, Poland's Foreign Minister told us that an association agreement will be signed in autumn 2014; after the initialing of the agreement, including a free trade arrangement at the Vilnius summit (before the termination of current European Union Commission's power) which is very important," the Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia stated.
Alongside with this, Zalkaliani drew a parallel to Ukraine, which has been waiting to sign for two years after initialling.
"The fact that the signing will take place a few months after initialing speaks about the great importance of Eastern Partnership countries, including Georgia, to the EU," he said.
Georgia is included in the EU Eastern Partnership program adopted at the initiative of Poland and Sweden, and approved at the EU summit in Brussels in 2008.
The purpose of the program is the convergence of the EU with Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia
The program provides a significant increase in the level of political cooperation, broad integration of former Soviet republics in the EU economy, increasing the amount of financial assistance provided to them and strengthening energy security.