Brussels, 17/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - The permanent president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and the Georgian Prime Minister, Nika Gilauri, have both expressed a wish for negotiations between the EU and Georgia on the conclusion of an Association Agreement (including a free trade zone) to begin soon. On Tuesday 16 March, the two men met in Brussels and appealed for the swift implementation of the agreement for facilitating the granting of visas for Georgian citizens, as well as the readmission agreement. These two agreements were recently concluded and are on track for approval by the Council. In a press conference, Mr Van Rompuy declared at the end of his meeting with Mr Gilauri, “EU-Georgia relations are strengthening rapidly. In the context of the Eastern Partnership, significant steps have been taken to enhance bilateral EU-Georgia relations. Discussions on the draft negotiation directives for an Association Agreement are now coming to an end. This means that it should be soon possible to start negotiations on this Agreement, including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area”. The president of the European Council also pointed out that Georgia was the first country from the Caucasus to have negotiated a visa facilitation agreement with the EU. Mr Van Rompuy said that this agreement might be concluded at the beginning of June. He also welcomed the fact that the Georgian authorities had invited observers from the OSCE to monitor local elections that took place in May. He underlined the fact that the EU would not be sending an observation mission but “we will watch the developments closely”. With regard to the conflict between Georgia and Russia over the issue of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the president of the Council repeated the EU's support for Georgia's integral territorial sovereignty. Mr Van Rompuy said that the EU and almost all countries in the world do not recognise the self-proclaimed independence of the two separatist territories and, “expects Russia to fulfil all its commitments from the ceasefire agreements”. He concluded that the EU had a strategic interest in its Eastern neighbour being a stable, democratic, prosperous zone for development. (H.B.)