Description of the Conference:

13:10-13:30   Michael Aastrup Jensen, MP, The Danish Liberal Party, Chairman of the Foreign Policy Board in the Danish Parliament, Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Former Chairman of the Danish Delegation, and Special Rap­porteur for Georgia, our host in the Parliament: Georgia’s difficult road to Europa: Historic overview, past, present and future. What can Denmark  do for suppor­ting the Georgian peoples European aspirations and what do we expect from Georgia on its path to EU membership.

13:30-13:50   Per Haugaard, Chief of the representation of the European Commission in Den­mark: What was the background for the European Commission to recommend giving Georgia candidate status; from now on, what will the steps be to full membership; what will be the biggest hurdles in this long process; what can the Georgian Govern­ment, the Georgian politicians and the Georgian people do for supporting this pro­cess; what can Denmark and the Danish members of the European Parliament do for supporting Georgia in this process.

13.50-14:10    Natela Menabde, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to the King­dom of Denmark and Iceland: What are the visions and plans of Georgia for fulfilling the country’s long-term ambition from candidate status to the full EU membership. How Georgia undertakes further reforms to implement recommendations of the EU.

14:10-14:40   Discussion and Q&A.

14:40-15:10   Break, coffee/tea and cake will be served.

15:10-15:30   Tom Trier, Political Adviser to the EUSR for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, European External Action Service: Georgia and the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region / South Ossetia – EU perspectives.

15:30-15:50   Eka Gigauri, Executive Director, Transparency International Georgia: How can Georgia progress further on its fight against corruption and for an open, legal based economy as necessary for EU membership.

15:50-16:10   Nino Evgenidze, Executive Director, Economic Policy Research Centre:  What will the fulfillment of Georgia’s European ambitions mean for the Georgian economy, EU-accession as a topic of political discussion in Georgia.

16:10-16:40.   Discussion and Q&A.

16:40-17:00   Karsten Fledelius, Former Chairperson of The Danish Helsinki Committee:  Conclu­sions and final remarks.

The Conference is organized by the Danish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights and the Danish Foreign Policy Society in cooperation with the Danish UN Association, Globale Seniorer, Europabevægelsen and Georgiens Venner i Danmark.  The Conference is supported economically by CISU, Civilsamfund i Udvikling.