Georgia’s Foreign Minister believes in visa liberalisation by summer

Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikheil Janelidze believes the country will be able to travel visa-free to the European Union (EU) by summer.

Speaking to Georgian newspaper Kviris Palitra Janelidze said he had meetings virtually every day about Georgia’s visa liberalisation and it would only be a matter of months before Georgia was offered a visa-free regime.

Georgia has completed everything asked of it in its Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP) and it was now up to official EU organisations to offer Georgia visa liberalisation. Janelidze said the Georgian Government was actively working with EU officials to finalise Georgia’s visa-free regime despite current migration challenges and other issues in Europe.

Georgia has had to overcome more obstacles on its way towards Europe than other countries, for example, Moldova,” Janelidze said. However, because of this Georgia managed to gain a lot of support from all EU structures. 

In the interview the Minister also spoke about the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Warsaw Summit and said Georgia waited for the alliance’s political support for Georgia’s integration into NATO and progress in practical cooperation from the gathering. 

On another note the Minister said his agency was actively working on a new concept regarding Georgia’s diplomatic representation, which envisaged the integration of Georgia’s diplomatic and commercial representations abroad. 

In this context he highlighted the importance of creating special presentation spaces abroad where visitors would be able to learn about Georgia, its culture, local products, it’s landscape and tourism potential, investment opportunities and more.

The Minister believed having one space offering this information would benefit Georgia’s tourism and economy.