The foreign ministers of 12 European countries are calling for immediate cancellation of the European Union (EU) visa regime for Georgia and Ukraine and allow these citizens to travel to the EU visa-free.
The need to quickly provide visa-free entry to the EU for citizens of Georgia and Ukraine was pointed out in a joint statement issued by the Ministers after their meeting in Latvia.
The foreign ministers of countries within Northern Europe, the Baltic States and the Visegrad Group convened for a meeting at the Baltic Sea resort town of Jurmala, Latvia, on Friday.
The countries involved were Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary.
The conference was devoted to security issues, energy cooperation, questions related to Eastern partnership and other European problems.
"The ministers pointed to the need to immediately grant the right of visa-free travel to [the citizens of Georgia and Ukraine]," Latvian Foreign Ministry Edgars Rinkevics said after the two-day meeting.
The same was confirmed in the joint statement of the ministers following the meeting.
"The ministers noted the need without delay to provide a visa-free regime for Ukraine and Georgia,” the statement read.
The ministers also reaffirmed their readiness to continue to support the implementation of the Association Agreements with Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, and stressed the need for cooperation with other Eastern partnership countries.