Brussels, 05/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 5 March, Georgia and the European Union initialled a comprehensive air services agreement in Tbilissi. Once in place, the agreement will allow the integration of Georgian civil aviation into a common aviation area. The agreement, which was negotiated on the basis of the brief granted to the European Commission in June 2009, has a two-fold aim: - the opening of the EU and Georgian markets, and the integration of Georgia into a wider European common aviation area (European Union and Western Balkans). Georgia is expected to adopt the acquis communautaire by bringing its legislation into line with that of the EU in fields such as aviation safety and security, the environment, consumer protection, air traffic control, economic regulation, competition issues and social aspects. On the other hand, as a result of the agreement, all EU airlines may operate direct flights to Georgia from any airport in the EU, and vice versa for Georgian carriers. The agreement will remove all restrictions on prices and the number of weekly flights between Georgia and the EU. It will also, among other things, allow Georgia to develop its tourism sector, but has still to be approved by the Council and European Parliament and be ratified by the 27 EU member states (the ratification process will begin once the agreement has been signed). Nine EU member states (Germany, Austria, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic) are currently operating flights to Tbilissi and air traffic between the EU and Georgia is constantly on the rise, the Commission states in a press release published on Friday (average 10% rise per year over the past five years in terms of passengers and 26% rise in freight). Similar agreements have already been sealed with the Western Balkans and Morocco. Negotiations are underway with Ukraine, Israel, Tunisia, Algeria, as well as Lebanon and Jordan which are the states that are at the most advanced stage of negotiation. (A.By./transl.jl)