The Parliament of Georgia ratified on April 21 with all 89 members of the Parliament present voting unanimously in favor of endorsing the agreement on joining the Energy Community, an organization uniting the European Union member states and its neighbors with the aim to create an integrated European energy market.

“The Energy Community welcomes Georgia’s accession and the commitment for approximating Georgia’s energy sector with the European Union energy market rules,” the Energy Community said in a statement on April 25.

“Notification of Georgian accession to the Energy Community therefore remains only a formality,” the organization added.

Negotiations for Georgia to become a full-fledged member of the Energy Community were launched in February 2014. The protocol on the accession of Georgia to the Energy Community was signed on October 14, 2016 by Georgia’s then Energy Minister Ilia Eloshvili in Sarajevo, which hosted the organization’s 14th ministerial council.

By signing the Energy Community treaty, a member undertakes commitment to implement key EU regulations and rules on electricity and gas networks, environment, renewable energy, energy efficiency, oil and on energy statistics.

Along with the EU states, members of the Energy Community are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine.