Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili met French President Francois Hollande on March 24 on the sideline of nuclear security summit in The Hague.

Georgian PM’s office said that Garibashvili discussed with President Hollande, who plans to visit Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in mid-May, “close and active” cooperation both in bilateral and multilateral formats. “Emphasis was made on the role of France in Georgia’s European integration process,” it said, adding that the PM thanked the French President for his country’s “firm support to Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty”.

In other bilateral meetings on the sideline of the summit, the Georgian PM also met on March 24 with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė; Vice President of Brazil Michel Temer; Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. He met his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte on March 23.

Garibashvili said that during the meeting with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy he discussed possibility to speed up even further signing of the Association Agreement.

The EU said last week it would sign the Association Agreement, including its deep and comprehensive free trade component, with Georgia no later than June, instead of August.

“As you know they [the EU leaders] have reaffirmed that signing will take place in June, but we are talking now about moving the date further forward,” PM Garibashvili said. “No final decision is yet taken on this issue, because it is now a technical process, which requires some time, but the both sides reaffirm readiness to sign the agreement as soon as possible.”

According to the Georgian PM’s office, Garibashvili told the European Council President that Georgia aims at completing implementation of its Visa Liberalisation Action Plan with the EU by next Eastern Partnership summit in Riga in 2015.