"There is no reason to expect that the European Commission experts’ report on Georgia will not be positive," says German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier about the upcoming report that will determine whether or not Georgians will enjoy visa free travel to countries in the Schengen zone.
Steinmeier met Georgia’s Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili in Berlin, Germany today where the Georgian official is paying a working visit.
The German Minister said visa liberalisation seemed to be a very important issue for the Georgian side at the upcoming Riga Summit.
"I should admit that the work Georgia got done during preparation for the visa liberalisation process was really impressive, so I don’t think there is any reason to be skeptical towards the report that will be finished soon,” Steinmeier said.
Earlier the European Union (EU) officials said the visa liberalisation decision would be based on Georgia’s recent achievements and these achievements needed to be reflected in the report. The report is currently being prepared by European Commission experts, who had travelled to Tbilisi to review the situation.
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit will be held on May 21 and 22 in Riga, Latvia. The report will be ready by this date.
Meanwhile, during today’s meeting the two Ministers talked about the hard situation in Georgia’s Russian occupied regions Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia). The German side reconfirmed its firm supports towards Georgia’s territorial integrity and urged Russia to back off from the Georgian land.
This was the second day of Beruchashvili’s two-day Germany visit. Yesterday she met a number of German high officials. Read more about those meetings here.