GEORGIA IN THE EUROPEAN UNION’S EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES: HISTORICAL ASPECTS AND CHALLENGES

The Eastern Partnership is a joint initiative involving the EU, its Member States and six Eastern European Partners. The Eastern Partnership aims at deepening and strengthening relations between the EU, its member states and six of its eastern neighbor countries. Georgia is actively involved in the projects of Eastern Partnership countries. The work reviews indicators and peculiarities of social economic development of Eastern Partner Countries. These countries are actively trying to facilitate further integration into the Global Economy. The presented work has studied a number of topical issues including socio-economic development of Eastern Partner Countries, Cross Domestic Product (GDP) of member countries, Cross Domestic Productper capita, foreign trade of member states and trade with EU. There is a conclusion, that Georgia can be one of the most successful and advanced countries among Eastern Partners. However, Cross Domestic Product per capita in Georgia is significantly lower than in other countries of European Union. A significant indicator is an unemployment rate, which is much higher in Georgia than in the European countries. Without improving these two indicators, it is impossible to get full access to the EU as well as obtain a priority in this direction.