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The countries of the Eastern Neighbourhood have a unique opportunity to combine the value based relationship of the Eastern Partnership with strategic projects, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle said yesterday at the transport meeting of the Informal Eastern Partnership Dialogue in Tbilisi.

"I hope that through transport-transit we could significantly strengthen the cooperation with our partners from the Easter Partnership countries,’’ the Commissioner told the Ministers of Transport from the six partner countries at the meeting where the Commission’s Vice-President responsible for Transport Siim Kallas was also present.

The day before, the Commissioner addressed the second meeting of the Informal Eastern Partnership Dialogue in Tbilisi, stressing it was “about shaping the expectation of the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius when we hope to sign the Association Agreement with Ukraine and conclude the negotiations with Georgia, Moldova and Armenia and also advance in our negotiations with Azerbaijan."

Ahead of the Infomal Dialogue meeting, Commissioner Füle emphasized the importance of the Civil Society Forum (CSF) in the context of the Eastern Partnership, stressing the role of the National Platforms. A press release from the CSF quoted him as saying that the CSF is a major element of the "reshaping of the post-soviet region."(EU Neighbourhood Info)

In Tbilisi, the Commissioner also held bilateral talks with the Georgian partners. In the meetings with Georgian President Saakashvili and Prime Minister Ivanishvili Commissioner Füle underlined that the road between now and the Eastern Partnership Vilnius Summit in November was a historic moment for Georgia “to deliver on the major challenges of cohabitation,” adding: “Politicians are expected to find the channels of communication for successfully tackling the most important interests Georgia – and I believe the EU agenda is one of them. Pragmatic and value based cohabitation are needed to successfully deliver on Georgia’s EU aspirations at the Vilnius Summit.’’

The Commissioner also met with Chairman of the Parliament David Usupashvili and Chairman of the Parliamentary Minority David Bakradze. In these meetings he highlighted once more that Georgia is an example of consistency and commitment on the way of agreed reforms and should continue in this way despite the challenges in the process of cohabitation.

During his two-day visit to Tbilisi Commissioner Füle also signed a €20 million financial agreement to support the reform process in Georgia.