Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili met with Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium. The initial face-to-face meeting between the Prime Ministers continued in an extended format.

The meeting focused on the close partnership between Georgia and the Kingdom of Belgium in bilateral and multilateral formats alike. Opportunities of deepening the cooperation between the two countries across a variety of areas-including trade and economy, investments, tourism, education, science, and culture-were discussed.

Special emphasis at the meeting was placed on the historic decision to recognize Georgia’s European perspective. It was noted that the European Commission’s 12 recommendations have been nearly finalized by Georgia. Against this backdrop, Irakli Garibashvili underscored the crucial importance of granting the candidate status to Georgia at the end of this year in the context of both Georgia’s European future and geopolitics. According to the Prime Minister, Georgia deserves the candidate status which will help reduce polarization in the country.

The Georgian Prime Minister’s bilateral visit to the Kingdom of Belgium is being held in parallel with the presentation of Europalia-Georgia international arts festival’s program. This year, the festival is in its entirety dedicated to Georgia, a unique opportunity to showcase Georgia’s European history, identity, and culture in the political heart of Europe. According to Irakli Garibashvili, Europalia-Georgia acquires a special meaning in light of the country’s anticipating the candidate status at the end of this year.

After the meeting between the Prime Ministers, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed concerning cooperation between Georgia’s Foreign Ministry and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, and Development Cooperation of the Federal Public Services of the Kingdom of Belgium.