Tbilisi, 5 September 2016 - The Government of Georgia today welcomed the European Parliament's justice and home affairs committee's positive decision on visa liberalisation for Georgian citizens, thus sealing the parliament's position ahead of an upcoming plenary vote.
"The report by MEP Gabriel was very positive and we are happy to see it received such widespread support," said Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze. "Georgia has spared no efforts to bring this to a successful conclusion - we met and surpassed all EU benchmarks in record time." "We are looking forward to a swift approval now from both the Parliament Plenary and the Council, and expect that Georgians should be able to travel without visas to the EU in the nearest future," he said.
Commenting on the importance of visa-free travel for Georgian citizens, he stressed that this was the yet another tangible and practical benefit of Georgia's EU integration process. "Georgian citizens are overwhelmingly supportive of Georgia's European transformation path which has enabled us to move forward so quickly with reforms. It is important that our citizens understand that this path delivers concrete results - with visa liberalisation they will be able to travel, do business and forge stronger ties with the EU."
Since the receiving of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan in February 2013, in order to meet the EU requirements Georgia has adopted more than 60 legislative amendments; around 70 bylaws, instructions and regulations; and 8 strategies; as well as ratified 7 international conventions, created several new institutions and strengthened the existing ones.