Negotiations on a free trade agreement with Georgia should begin
15 November 2011 News
Bulgaria supports the initiation, by the end of this year, of negotiations on a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, as a consequence of ongoing reforms.
This was said by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov, together with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania, in a letter to EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule and Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström.
The EU should reinvigorate its commitment to the country which, from the outset of the Eastern Partnership, is the one that has made the most progress, the letter said.
Considering the fact that Georgia’s effective agreement on visa facilitation and a readmission agreement with the EU entered into force on March 1 2011, EU foreign ministers propose that at the forthcoming Cooperation Council between EU and Georgia in December, a clear signal be given on the commencement of visa dialogue. Preferably it should begin in early 2012, with the fulfillment of all necessary conditions.