Brussels, 29/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 29 April, the European Union and Georgia signed an association agreement to enable Georgian researchers to participate fully in the EU's Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation.
The signing ceremony took place in Brussels and was attended by European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas and Georgia's Minister for Education and Science Tamar Sanikidze.
European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn responded to the occasion saying that Georgia was “a forerunner of the Eastern partnership”. “Extending Horizon 2020 to Georgia is a further, concrete sign of our commitment to closer political association and economic integration with the country”, he said.
Georgia has so far taken part in eight research projects as part of Horizon 2020 and it took part in 49 projects under the previous framework programme (2007-2013). Georgia is the 15th third country to have signed such an association agreement with the EU since 2014. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)