Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and the country’s Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili Monday marked the 8th anniversary since the signing of the Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union.

In a tweet, the Speaker said, “the AA was successful in unleashing the potential of Europeanisation, upgrading the Georgia-EU partnership to a qualitatively new level and enabling Georgia to transform itself into a European state. ”

Georgia and the European Union signed the Association Agreement 8 years ago. The AA was successful in unleashing the potential of Europeanisation, upgrading the 🇬🇪-🇪🇺 partnership to a qualitatively new level and enabling 🇬🇪 to transform itself into a European state. pic.twitter.com/wlenDcLz17

— Shalva Papuashvili 🇬🇪 (@shpapuashvili) June 27, 2022

FM Darchishvili believes the AA opened new opportunities for Georgia, access to the EU market, visa-free travel, among them.

#AssociationAgreement opened new opportunities for 🇬🇪:
🔹️Access to the EU market;
🔹️Visa-free travel;
🔹️EU-our major trade partner;
🔹️Bringing almost 70% of the EU acquis closer to 🇬🇪 legislation;
🔹️EU’s financial aid for 8 years – 1 billion EUR.

— Ilia Darchiashvili (@iliadarch) June 27, 2022