EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini announced on Monday 5 February that over 170,000 Georgians have already benefitted from visa liberalisation, in effect since 28 May 2017, for short term stays (see EUROPE 11757).
“Now, more than 170,000 Georgian citizens have enjoyed visa free travel to the Schengen area”, explained Mogherini after the EU/Georgia association council in Brussels, which was attended by Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili. “Closer contacts between our people are essential”, she said.
High Representative Mogherini also explained that the free trade area between the EU and Georgia was working well. “We were already Georgia’s first trade partner, and in the first nine months of 2017 Georgian exports to the European Union grew by 37%”, she said.
Mogherini called for full implementation of reforms adopted. “We discussed the outcome of the constitutional reform as well as the outcome of the local elections which were competitive and we have seen that fundamental freedoms were respected”, she said. She went on to add that both parties had “agreed on the need to continue to guarantee an inclusive political environment and to promote free and independent media, respect for the rule of law and judicial independence”.
The Georgian prime minister, for his part, explained that his country was working towards aligning its legislation on that of the EU in their fields of cooperation.
The High Representative also assured the Georgian delegation of the EU’s continued support in favour of Georgia’s territorial integrity, and of its commitment to peace, stability and conflict resolution. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)