The Minister of Justice spoke about Georgia's European perspective at the meeting with the members of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Working Group of the European Union.

Rati Bregadze thanked the guests for supporting the reforms implemented in Georgia and the country's western aspiration, which was manifested by the successful completion of the association process and economic integration with the EU countries.

Rati Bregadze spoke to the members of the delegation about the priority directions of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia. The conversation touched on the 12 recommendations that Georgia must fulfill in order to receive the status of a candidate country. According to Rati Bregadze, for this purpose, thematic working groups have been created in the Parliament of Georgia, with which the Ministry of Justice, within its competence, actively cooperates.

The Minister expressed his firm belief that Georgia will continue to have the support of the European Union on the way to European integration, and in the near future the country will be able to receive the status of a candidate country for EU membership.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting.

The parties discussed the issues of deepening bilateral cooperation in the field of justice and agreed that they will work actively to sign the extradition agreement between Georgia and the USA. Rati Bregadze thanked Bruce Schwartz for his support of the reforms implemented and ongoing under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice.

In order to further deepen the cooperation, the Minister expressed the initiative of concluding a memorandum between the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and the US Department of Justice.

The conversation touched on the implementation of exchange programs for the employees of the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Justice. The parties also discussed the possibility of holding a Georgian-American legal forum.

"We are happy to meet with Mr. Schwartz at the Ministry of Justice. We reviewed concrete successful examples of existing cooperation between our agencies. Also, we discussed new initiatives, the implementation of which will bring Georgian-American relations to a new, even higher level in the field of law," said Rati Bregadze.

Bruce Schwartz invited the Minister of Justice to Washington:

"On behalf of the United States Department of Justice, let me say what a great honor it was for me to meet with the Minister and to have the opportunity to discuss with him the issues of the rule of law, and how we advanced the rule of law both in our countries and globally. We talked about the work we are doing collectively on penitentiary and probation systems and wide variety of other issues. We discussed the common goals we have in this context. We noted the fact that we have the potential for discussing an extradition treaty between our two countries, which would further strengthen the relationship and demonstrate the importance of this relationship to both our countries and to the peoples of our countries, so once again, thank you for having me here at the Ministry, I look forward to visits in the futres and I hope to see the delegation of the Ministry of Justice and the Minister in Washington as well," he said.

Deputy Minister of Justice, Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting.

Minister of Justice, Rati Bregadze spoke today about the priority of cooperation with Eurojust and EU countries during the meeting with Eurojust President, Ladislav Hamran.

The Minister drew attention to the excellent cooperation between Georgia and EU member states in the field of extradition and criminal law.

At the meeting, it was emphasized that strong sectoral cooperation helps the country in the process of European integration, and hope was expressed that after receiving the perspective of the European Union, the process will end positively with the granting of candidate status to Georgia in the near future.

In addition, at the meeting, the parties talked about the possibility of training and work exchange programs between agencies.

Rati Bregadze met Ladislav Hamran at the Ministry of Justice. Deputy Minister of Justice Beka Dzamashvili also attended the meeting.

For information: Eurojust is the European Union's body for cooperation in the field of criminal justice. Its main activity is the coordination of the cooperation of EU member states in criminal cases, including non-EU partner states in the process of European integration. The agreement between Georgia and Eurojust was signed in 2019.