Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze says that the recent visit of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, marks a new stage of Georgian-EU relations, News Georgia reports.
Catherine Ashton will visit Tbilisi on Wednesday and will spend several hours in the state. She plans to meet Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Foreign Minister Vashadze.
The minister noted that the sides plan to open talks on deeper free-trade operations. They will also negotiate a lifting of the visa regime.
Georgy Baramidze, Vice-Premier and State Minister for European Affairs and Euro-Atlantic Integration, says that they will discuss security, the Russian-Georgian conflict and the need for a peaceful settlement of the conflict. They plan talks on monitoring the Georgian occupied territories, a peaceful settlement of the conflict and the return of refugees.
Ashton visits Georgia as part of her Caucasus tour that started in Baku on Tuesday. She will visit Tbilisi before arriving in Armenia on November 17.
This is Ashton’s second visit to Georgia. The first one was made in July 2010. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Catherine Ashton opened official talks on the association deal between Georgia and the EU in Batumi.
The EU Council of 27 Foreign Ministers approved the talks and passed a mandate for bilateral deals on association between the EU and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
