Estonia optimistic of Georgia’s visa liberalisation in 2016

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.