You're reading: Estonia proposes EU sign association agreements with Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Ukraine

Tallinn - Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet has said that the EU's Eastern Partnership initiative should soon be brought to a new level, the press service of the Estonian Foreign Ministry has told Interfax-Ukraine.

“We emphasize the importance of signing association agreements, including deep and comprehensive free trade agreements, with Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Ukraine, as well as the further practical application of those agreements,” he said at a meeting of the foreign ministers of Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Lithuania and Latvia on the island of Gotland (Sweden) on Tuesday.

Paet said that “the signing of association agreements creates new opportunities for the spread of common values, and the European Union, not just the partner countries, must strive for this goal.”

He also stressed the need “to accelerate further progress towards visa freedom.”

In a joint statement, the Nordic and Baltic states said that “economic or political pressure put on the Eastern Partnership states by third countries is not acceptable.”

“States themselves must be able to choose what is best for their future,” Paet said.

The meeting participants also discussed energy cooperation. They noted that in the near future the most important topics in this area would be the construction of a gas interconnection between Poland and Lithuania, the modernization of an underground gas storage facility in Latvia, the construction of a regional LNG terminal on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, and the construction of the Baltic Connector gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland.