Estonia optimistic of Georgia’s visa liberalisation in 2016
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Estonia believes Georgia and the European Union (EU) will soon reach an agreement on visa free travel.
"We believe the [European] Commission will make an optimistic decision and we hope Georgian citizens will soon be able to travel to the EU without visa requirements,” Estonia’s Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand said.
Kaljurand met his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Kvirikashvili before the two officials spoke at a joint press briefing in Tbilisi earlier today.
FM @MarinaKaljurand met FM Kvirikashvili in Tbilisi. Discussed various fields of cooperation and ways to improve pic.twitter.com/eJYKPFzxpb
— Estonian MFA (@valismin) November 9, 2015
The Estonian Foreign Minister said visa liberalisation was not easy to achieve and it needed hard work and many reforms.
She also expressed her expectations that visa free travel to the EU would become a reality for Georgia in the beginning of 2016.
Kaljurand also expressed her concerns regarding the recent controversies surrounding a legal ownership dispute of Rustavi 2 broadcasting company and stressed no country could be successful without protecting freedom of expression and putting the law above all else.
Granting Georgia a liberal visa regime would be the best way the European Union (EU) can show its support for Georgia as the country strives towards the Euro-Atlantic space.
"Estonia has been and will remain Georgia’s reliable partner and a close ally as the country strives towards the Euro-Atlantic space,” said Estonia's Prime Minister Taavi Roivas as he started his meeting with his Georgian counterpart today in capital Tallinn.
"I hope Georgian citizens will soon be able to travel within the European Union (EU) freely.” This hope was expressed by Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius as he spoke at a joint press briefing together with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili in Vilnius today.
The European migrant crisis will not hamper Georgia’s visa liberalisation pace, says a European Union (EU) envoy in Georgia.
The European Union (EU) is planning to introduce visa free travel with Georgia and Ukraine by mid of 2016, reports German newspaper Die Welt citing an unidentified EU diplomat.
Georgia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs has high expectations of an upcoming Council of Europe (CoE) report because the Ministry has fulfilled all its obligations necessary to gain a visa-free regime.
Parliament of Georgia today adopted a statement that will be sent to relevant structures of the EU prior to the December 15 release of a Council of Europe (CoE) report whether Georgia had met all its obligations towards visa liberalisation with the EU.
There is potential for Georgia and Estonia to deepen trade and economic cooperation, say Georgian and Estonian top officials after meeting in Tallinn, Estonia yesterday.
Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has congratulated the people of Estonia as the nation celebrates its Independence Day.
About 20 Estonian businessmen, led by Estonia’s former president Arnold Rüütel, are in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi today to attend the Georgia-Estonia Business Forum.