Georgia joined the declaration of the 4th summit of the European Political Community (EPC), which was adopted by the leaders gathered in Blenheim Palace in the United Kingdom.
The document has not yet been published, however, according to the Georgian government administration, it includes several key directions that are of particular importance for European security, as well as from the point of view of energy security and connectivity.
The government administration says the final document also reflects the proposal of France and Moldova to create a European political union network against foreign interference and manipulation of disinformation.
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze said the declaration of the summit reflected the proposal of the Georgian side to strengthen the regional ties of the Black and Caspian seas, within the framework of which the countries located in the regions of the Northern and Baltic seas of the European political union will hold technical dialogues together with Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.
“It was very important that the document of this summit reflected the record specifically in relation to Georgia, in particular, the special importance of Georgia was highlighted in terms of energy connectivity and in general transit function”, – said Irakli Kobakhidze.
The Georgian government noted that the main goal of the dialogues will be to share experience, resources, knowledge and expertise of the countries in a practical way, so that the members of the EPC of the Black and Caspian Seas can solve the challenges related to regional energy connections and use their energy potential in terms of clean energy production.
Kobakhidze says that during his visit to the United Kingdom, he shared information with his colleagues about 10 ongoing or planned projects that serve to strengthen the transit function of Georgia, especially in the field of energy and Anaklia project.
“First of all, it is important that the war in Ukraine ends. This was one of the issues discussed. We have high hopes that the war in Ukraine will end in a year at most, therefore the situation in the region will calm down, and all this will have a positive impact on the general political situation in our region and also on the attitude towards Georgia”, said Kobakhidze.
The European Political Community (EPC) is an intergovernmental forum for political and strategic discussions on the future of Europe, created in 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The first three meetings of the European Political Community were held in the Czech Republic, Moldova and Spain. The fourth summit was hosted by the United Kingdom under the new Labor government. Among the topics discussed at the summit was support for Ukraine, energy, connectivity, security, democracy and migration were discussed. In his opening speech, Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to restore relations with the European Union and the country would not withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. It also announced £84m of funding for projects to tackle illegal migration in Africa and the Middle East.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the participants of the summit and called on European leaders to unite to stop Russia. As part of the EPC summit, Ukraine signed defense and security agreements with the Czech Republic and Slovenia.
About 50 countries participated in the fourth meeting of the European Political Community, including – EU countries, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, United Kingdom.
