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On 25 June, the Political Director of the Foreign Ministry, Peteris Ustubs, took part in the Warsaw meeting of the New Group of Georgia's Friends (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Sweden). The meeting brought together the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania and Poland, and high level officials from the foreign ministries of Bulgaria, Romania, and Sweden. Representatives from the U.S.A., Slovakia, the European Council and NATO took part in observer status.
The issues on the agenda of the meeting are Georgia-NATO and Georgia-EU relations, the situation in Georgia's zones of conflict, the relations between Georgia and Russia, and the process of democratic reforms in the country.
Referring to the declaration of the NATO Summit in Bucharest, strong support was expressed with regard to offering the Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Georgia at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in December this year.
Concerning EU-Georgia relations, the participants of the meeting supported further strengthening of these relations with a special focus on the need to initiate negotiations on the simplification of the EU-Georgia visa regime, and on the conclusion of a free trade agreement
With regard to the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the participants expressed strong support to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial unity, pointing to the need for more effective formats for negotiations and peacekeeping measures. In this respect the participants noted the necessity for reducing the tension in the relations between Georgia and Russia, by inviting Russia to revoke its recent decisions with regard to Abkhazia.
The representative from Latvia commended Georgia's intensive dialogue with the EU and NATO partners in seeking the most suitable reform methods and possibilities for a peaceful resolution of conflicts, and emphasised the need for a more active EU involvement in these processes.
The New Group of Georgia's Friends is an informal group of countries created in 2005 with the aim of supporting democratic reform processes in Georgia and its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
The communique of the Warsaw Ministerial Meeting of the New Group of Georgia's Friends, in English
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