Successful foreign policy of our government has resulted in truly impressive achievements in the past 8 years. It was announced by the Prime Minister of Georgia at the 10-Year Development Plan of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“I wish to offer a brief overview to you about the significant achievements and progress achieved by us. It should be noted that these results are truly tangible. Successful foreign policy of our government has resulted in truly impressive achievements in the past 8 years and I wish to single out several of them.

First and foremost, the EU Association Agreement, which was an utterly important milestone and historic decision indeed. I was honored to sign the referred landmark document.

Also, I wish to highlight the visa-free travel within the EU, which a tangible outcome is enabling our citizens to travel freely in the member states of the EU.

I remember the time when EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom handed over an Action Plan of Visa Liberalization to me when I was just appointed as a Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia. You may well be aware that back then almost 70% of tasks within its scope were to be delivered by our line ministry. Later, in the capacity of a Prime Minister of Georgia, we succeeded in successfully closing the deal and honoring our commitment together with you, my dear colleagues. At the end of 2015 - right on December 17 - we received a final confirmation and green light from the EU on allowing the citizens of Georgia to travel within the EU without a visa requirement. It practically got into force right after. It is a tremendous success of great magnitude for our country and our citizens. It means trust declared to us by the EU.

Our team made a decision to reflect our clear foreign policy orientation in the Constitution of Georgia and the process has thus become irreversible forever. We truly had tangible progress towards NATO. For instance, when we launched JTEC, significant decisions were made by NATO member states towards Georgia. Everyone unequivocally and unanimously states that Georgia truly deserves NATO membership today. We understand it well though that final decision and consensus needs to come from every member state. Of course, we follow the process with strategic patience and readiness, believing that one day our country will indeed become a member of both EU and NATO.

We have excellent relations with our three neighbors: Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey. Successful policy pursued in recent years resulted in an agreement between our brothers - Azerbaijanis and Armenians - with our mediation, which led to the release of Armenian soldiers, hand-over of significant documents - mined area maps to Azerbaijan, It is a successful precedent created by us all. Three neighboring countries did it. It should be one of the key directions for us to make sure that Georgia truly becomes one of the initiators of peace and stability in the region, serving as a solid foundation of ultimate development. Platform, which may be offered to our friendly and neighboring nations, should be developed indeed and we should become active towards this end.

As for our northern neighbor, you may well be aware that our main challenge is the occupation of our territories. We are in the same week of August and once again recall the difficult days, occurring in our country 13 years ago. One of the main, if not the most pressing challenges is the occupation of our territories and prudent, pragmatic steps to be made by us towards de-occupation. Of course, our prime goal at large in the prism of 10 years, should be the achievement of de-occupation and preparation of a dialogue with Russia towards this end. Of course, with a condition that our country should get de-occupied by all means and this conflict and occupation should end”, - said Irakli Garibashvili.