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At the meetings with the delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia David Jalagania, a senior official from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed the support to Georgia in its negotiations on Association Agreement with the European Union and to the bid of this South Caucasus country to join NATO.

On 13 December in Vilnius at the meeting between Deputy Minister D.Jalagania and Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Egidijus Meilūnas, support to Georgia in negotiations on Association Agreement with the EU was highlighted. The agreement would define the EU-Georgia cooperation in the areas of foreign and security policy, economy, trade, transport, energy, environment protection, agriculture, education, health care and culture.

According to Georgia’s Deputy Minister, negotiations on the agreement are advancing speedily and successfully. Preliminary agreement has been reached on 8 out of 26 negotiating chapters.

The Vice-Minister and the Deputy Minister also discussed Georgia’s readiness to launch negotiations for a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU. This agreement would be an essential part of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement and would enable creating a stable, secure and mutually beneficial commercial business environment.

Deputy Minister D.Jalagania said that he valued very much the support of Lithuanian experts to Georgia under the EU Technical Assistance and Information Exchange programme, when implementing the requirements for launching negotiations on a free trade agreement.

Vice-Minister E.Meilūnas assured the support of Lithuania for Georgia’s bid to join NATO and stressed the importance of implementation of the Annual National Programme, which defines the basis of Georgia-NATO cooperation. It was noted that the Lithuanian Embassy in Tbilisi assumes the role of NATO Contact Point Embassy in Georgia for a period of two years as of 1 January 2011.

In Vilnius, the officials approved an annual action plan for the implementation of the Lithuania-Georgia Charter on the European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, which sets out joint events and meetings for the next year.