Kavkaz

Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze will pay an official visit to Kazakhstan May 6. Within his visit, the FM will meet with Kazakh Foreign Minister and OSCE Acting Chairman Kanat Saudabayev. After the meeting, the sides will sign a protocol on cooperation.

UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and CIS director Kori Udovicki will visit Georgia May 5-8. During the three-day visit she will meet with representatives of the Georgian government, political parties, international organizations and civil society, the UN’s office told Trend.

The European Commission today proposed the conclusion of visa facilitation and readmission agreements with Georgia. The draft agreements result from recent negotiations between the EU and Georgia. They aim at enhancing EU-Georgia relations by facilitating short-stay travel of Georgian citizens to the EU while jointly tackling risks of irregular migration. …

About 18 local and four international organizations will observe the elections to local authorities in Georgia May 30. These organizations have already submitted applications

Romania supports the Azerbaijan-NATO dialogue and as coordinator of the alliance in the country tries to “bring Azerbaijan to the North Atlantic alliance,” Romanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan and NATO representative in the country Nicolae Ureki said speaking at the conference “NATO’s role in ensuring stability and security in Europe and …

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg will arrive to Tbilisi today. His visit program has not yet been specified. According to preliminary information, Hammarberg will visit Tskhinvali and meet with the de facto authorities. Hammarberg’s main task is to secure the release of individuals who have been …

President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili will not visit Romania April 30 as reported earlier. The visit was postponed upon the request of the Romanian side, which cited coinciding of the national celebration with the visit. Mikheil Saakashvili’s visit to Bucharest is scheduled for June 2-3.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday that Turkey attached a great importance to stability, prosperity and territorial integrity of Georgia and a powerful Georgia would contribute to stability of Caucasus. Davutoglu and his Georgian counterpart Grigol Vashadze had a meeting in capital Ankara and held a joint press …

The European Union on Tuesday proposed Georgia be included in its visa facilitation and readmission mechanism, increasing the number of such beneficiary countries to nine. The proposal was made by the European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation bloc.

The EU on Monday urged Armenia and Turkey to continue the process of normalising their ties. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed her concern about the pace of the process and reiterated calls to continue dialogue without preconditions and within a reasonable timeframe.