Civil Georgia
February 28, 2015
Romanian PM Reiterates ‘Strong Support’ for Georgia’s EU, NATO Integration
Tbilisi: Romania is a “strong supporter” of Georgia’s EU and NATO integration, Romanian PM Victor Ponta told his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili at a meeting in Bucharest on February 27.
“It’s not an easy path… It’s true that everybody speaks about Ukraine; Romanians always speak about Moldova and I personally always speak about Moldova and Georgia,” PM Ponta said and added that Romania supports “equally” Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine.
“It is important not to forget about us. We understand that we have a very tense situation in the region, very difficult situation – I mean crisis in Ukraine, but we should not forget about Georgia and we should keep our country on radar,” the Georgian PM responded.
In separate remarks after the meeting, PM Ponta said again that it is “our duty to remember Georgia”, which had the “courage to stand by the European Union, NATO” despite difficult situation in the region.
“Georgia’s European integration and accession to NATO were high on the agenda of our discussions today. We want to express our gratitude towards your country, dear friend, and your personal contribution; we feel your very strong support,” Garibashvili told his Romanian counterpart.
PM Ponta said that energy and transportation projects, among them AGRI, were also the focus of discussions.
Liquefied natural gas transportation project, AGRI (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania-Hungary Interconnector), envisages gas delivery via pipelines to a terminal in Kulevi on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, where it will be liquefied and shipped by tankers to the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanţa and re-gasified to supply it to consumers in Europe.
Accompanied by Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili and Agriculture Minister Otar Danelia, the Georgian PM visited Bucharest on February 27 after talks with the EU officials in Brussels on February 26.
In Bucharest the Georgian delegation also met speakers of upper and lower houses of the Romanian parliament, Călin Popescu Tăriceanu and Valeriu Zgonea, respectively.
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