Brussels, 29/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission adopted its second progress report on the implementation by Georgia of the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP) on Wednesday 29 October.
The Commission says in a press release that Georgia “meets the first-phase requirements of the visa dialogue. The second phase, where the Commission will be checking the implementation of all these benchmarks, can therefore be launched”.
Since the last report in November 2013 (see EUROPE 10964), Georgia has adopted laws in the fields of document security, asylum, anti-corruption and money-laundering, as well as other measures in order to address the identified gaps.
“Important changes made to the legal framework for the protection of personal data during the summer 2014 and the adoption and entry into force of an Anti-Discrimination Law in spring 2014 are also testimony to Georgia's commitment to the Visa Liberalisation Dialogue”, underlines the Commission, promising close monitoring of the measures put in place.
The EU-Georgia Visa Liberalisation Dialogue was launched on 4 June 2012 and the VLAP was presented to the Georgian authorities on 25 February 2013. Georgian citizens have enjoyed the benefits of a visa facilitation agreement with the EU since March 2011.