Germany explores option to grant “safe country” status to Georgia

Georgian (L) and German police chiefs signed a special protocol against illegal migration. Photo by Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Agenda.ge, 05 Apr 2016 - 15:08, Tbilisi,Georgia

"Germany knows well that no one is being politically persecuted in Georgia and we are discussing the possibility to grant Georgia the status of ‘safe country’,” Germany’s Federal Minister of Interior Thomas de Maiziere told his Georgian counterpart today. 

The German official stressed there were many dishonest asylum seekers addressing his county and a special, ‘safe country’ status was a tool that could combat against this wrongdoing.

Citizens of foreign states with ‘safe country’ status were not given political asylum in Germany. 

On this note, de Maiziere and his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Mgebrishvili signed an implementation protocol on Readmission of Illegal Migrants, which was seen to enhance joint efforts against illegal migration between the two nations.

Maiziere positively assessed the existing, close partnership between Georgian and German police structures and praised the Georgian attaché’s successful cooperation with German’s federal and central criminal police. 

Minister Mgebrishvili will come back to Georgia tomorrow after his meetings in France and Germany. Photo by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. 

The Georgian Minister, who began his first France-Germany trip on March 30, invited his German counterpart to Georgia. 

While abroad Mgebrishvili has met heads and top representatives of France and Germany’s law enforcement bodies.

At all the meetings Mgebrishvili stressed the importance of forging closer relations between Georgian and international police structures. 

He also told his foreign colleagues about implemented and ongoing democratic reforms in Georgia, and the Georgian Government’s future plans targeting the country’s faster integration into Euro-Atlantic structures.

Mgebrishvili will return to Georgia tomorrow.