Georgian Foreign Minister, Maia Panjikidze, met his Greek counterpart Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on April 23.

Venizelos, whose country holds EU’s rotating presidency, reiterated that Georgia and the EU would sign the Association Agreement, also including deep and comprehensive free trade area, before the end of June.

“We will achieve this, and it is our goal and choice, and it is a very important political act that underscores Georgia’s legitimate European aspirations,” the Greek Foreign Minister said at a joint news conference after the meeting.

“We also talked about Georgia’s relations with NATO,” he said. “As an old member of the Alliance, Greece perceives how important this perspective is to Georgia.”

He said that crisis in Ukraine was also discussed during the meeting, as well as “the crisis in the relations between the West and Russia.”

“The Georgian government has made a very important strategic choice – normalization of its relations with Russia, without neglecting its Euro-Atlantic aspirations,” Venizelos said.

The Georgian Foreign Minister said that she had “very productive” talks with his Greek counterpart. She thanked Greece for supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

Panjikidze said that there is more potential for boosting economic cooperation between the two countries and added that she invited her Greek counterpart to visit Georgia together with a group of Greek businesspeople.

Also on April 23 Panjikidze met vice-president of the Greek parliament Ioannis Tragakis