Informal Eastern Partnership Ministerial Meeting Held in Tbilisi

Ministers and senior officials from the foreign and healthcare ministries of six Eastern Partnership countries and EU commissioners for neighborhood and health met in Tbilisi on November 26.

The Informal Eastern Partnership Dialogue involved Foreign Ministers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Moldova, as well as Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus and head of the European directorate at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

In parallel a sectoral cooperation in healthcare was also discussed at a meeting of Healthcare Ministers of Georgia and Armenia, as well as senior officials from the healthcare ministries of other Eastern Partnership countries.

EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn; EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis, and Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service Helga Schmid also participated in the meetings.

“Georgia has always been a keen supporter of the Eastern Partnership,” Georgian Foreign Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said after the meeting . “We had useful and comprehensive discussion on progress achieved in implementation of agreed priorities at the Riga Eastern Partnership summit, as well as on future plans. We also had a good exchange of views on EU’s new approach towards the European Neighborhood Policy.”

While Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine aspire political association and closer economic integration with the EU, three other countries of the Eastern Partnership chose not to follow the same path. Armenia and Belarus are members of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union.

The EU plans to make more focus on “differentiation” as not all the partners aspire closer integration with the bloc. In the review of its decade-old European Neighborhood Policy, the EU said it will offer “more flexibility where possible” to such partners and will engage with them to determine “realistic alternatives” to deep and comprehensive free trade agreements in order to strengthen trade and investment relations with them.

“We welcome the differentiation approach as has been announced in ENP review document,” Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the meeting in Tbilisi on November 26.

“There should also be a balance between addressing the challenge of migration and human rights issues, fundamental freedoms versus anti-radicalism and it is also important to curb the rise of Islamophobic tendencies in Europe. We, as EaP partners constantly hear criticism with regard to human rights issues in partner states. But how is about EU itself? The civil society forum should also highlight critical human rights issues in EU member states as well if we are seriously considering mutual ownership,” Mammadyarov said according to text of his speech at the meeting in Tbilisi, distributed by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry.

Mammadyarov also stressed that the energy sector is one of the most important areas of Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the EU. He said that the work on the Southern Gas Corridor “is proceeding smoothly” and Baku expects gas from Azerbaijan to reach Europe at the end of 2018 or early 2019.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said that his country, which is part of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, has been “advocating for a rationale that builds on opportunities provided by different integration formats while avoiding undue creation of new dividing lines in the larger neighborhood.”

“We want to make best use of our participation in the Eurasian Economic Union and at the same time develop mutually beneficial possible cooperation with the European Union,” the Armenian Foreign Minister said.

He welcomed EU’s decision to open negotiations on a new agreement with Armenia, which, he said, will be launched in coming days.

“I am hopeful that through the active process of deliberations we will be able to reach an agreement on a new framework document that will reflect the essence and depth of our bilateral relations and set new guidelines for mutually beneficial cooperation,” the Armenian Foreign Minister said.

Nalbandian also said that after almost two years of implementing EU-Armenia visa facilitation agreement, it is now “high time to move further and launch a dialogue on visa liberalization.”

Deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus, Alena Kupchyna, who country is a member of the Russian-led the Eurasian Economic Union, said that that there is a need of “greater differentiation” in EU’s approach to its eastern partners. She also said that there is a need for “a dialogue and cooperation between the Eurasian Economic Union and the EU with the goal of creation in the future of a single economic area between Lisbon and Vladivostok.”

On the sideline of the informal Eastern Partnership meeting in Tbilisi, Georgian Foreign Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili also held bilateral meetings with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts.

After the Informal Eastern Partnership Dialogue, EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn continued his visit to Tbilisi with bilateral meetings.

He met Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili and senior lawmakers from various parliamentary groups on November 26.

Usupashvili said “there are all the reasons to be optimistic” that the European Commission’s report, expected by mid-December, on Georgia’s implementation of visa liberalisation action plan with the EU will be positive. He said that the European Commission’s recommendation for visa free regime will require endorsement from the EU-member states.

“As it seems those decisions will also be positive,” Usupashvili said.

Commissioner Hahn said on the visa liberalisation earlier on November 26: “Georgia has made a remarkable progress. There will be very soon a final report [of the European Commission] in mid-December. I cannot predict the outcome… but what we’ve heard from our colleagues dealing with all these issues, I am pretty confident that things are going in the right direction.”

Also on November 26 the EU Commissioner met head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II. 

During his visit Commissioner Hahn will meet PM Irakli Garibashvili; President Giorgi Margvelashvili, as well as opposition and civil society representatives. .