Brussels, 28/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Thursday 28 May, the European Union and seven countries of the group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) - Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa and Vanuatu - were to sign reciprocal short-stay visa waiver agreements.
The agreements were to be signed on the sidelines of the joint ACP-EU Council of Ministers (28 and 29 May), which features migration on its agenda, amongst other subjects.
A similar agreement was already signed on Tuesday 26 May between the EU and Timor-Leste in Brussels.
Under these agreements, EU citizens and nationals of the seven ACP countries in question will be able to travel to the territory of the other party without a visa obligation for stays of up to 90 days within any 180-day period.
The European Parliament must now give its approval so that these visa waiver agreements can be concluded. However, they will only apply provisionally from the date of signature.
In order to make use of the visa waiver, EU citizens and nationals of the seven ACP countries must hold a valid ordinary, diplomatic, service/official or special passport. The visa waiver will cover all categories of persons, irrespective of the reason for the journey, with the exception of carrying out paid activities.
These agreements will not apply to the United Kingdom and Ireland, which are not members of the Schengen zone. The short-stay visa waivers for nationals of these ACP countries were proposed by the European Commission in 2012. (Aminata Niang )