BRUSSELS, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) is to launch the Eastern Partnership to boost ties with its eastern neighbors by the end of the year, an EU commissioner said here Tuesday.

    Benita Ferrero-Waldner, commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, made the announcement at a joint press conference after meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Vladimir Gurgenidze.

    The Eastern Partnership, proposed by Poland and Sweden and approved at the EU summit in June, would cover countries including Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, she said.

    "We will have to see how far we can go. There should be greater economic integration, more mobility and more tools to help solve the security situation and resolve frozen conflicts," the commissioner said.

    Under the partnership, the EU will enhance regional cooperation between these countries and open bilateral negotiations with each one of them on a visa regime and free trade areas.

    The EU is expected to make decisions on such a partnership, an extension of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), in late autumn or by the December European Council, according to Ferrero-Waldner.

    At an extraordinary summit Monday, the 27-nation European bloc vowed to speed up visa facilitation and free trade talks with Georgia, while threatening to postpone negotiations on a new cooperation and partnership agreement with Russia should it fail to fully withdraw its troops from Georgia in a month's time.

    Ukraine is expecting such a promise from an EU-Ukraine summit later this week, as the former Soviet republic has criticized the EU's ENP, saying that the policy could not stabilize and support the countries bidding to join the EU.