Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and his Georgian counterpart Salome Zourabichvili on Tuesday discussed the implementation of reforms in Georgia and Lithuania’s support for the country’s bid to join the EU.
“Lithuania strongly supports Georgia’s civil society on its way to Europe, the freedom of the press and public expression. We are ready to share our experience of European integration and help Georgia achieve progress necessary for the country’s further rapprochement with the EU,” Nausėda said during a phone conversation.
According to him, however, progress in Georgia also requires the political will of the country’s government.
The Lithuanian leader also underlined strong support for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Last week, the Georgian government dropped its plans to adopt a controversial law on “foreign agents” after tens of thousands of outraged demonstrators took to the streets.
Critics said the legislation, which aimed to designate organisations receiving funding from foreign countries as “foreign agents”, was reminiscent of the existing laws in Russia.
Georgian President Zourabichvili is openly in favour of closer ties with the West and criticizes the country’s ruling party’s pro-Russia policies, but her powers are limited.
Having fought a brief war with neighbouring Russia in 2008, Georgia formally applied to join the EU last year along with Ukraine and Moldova. The latter two were granted candidate status, while Georgia was told to carry out further reforms to start the long road to EU membership.
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