Georgia, Sweden to strengthen fight against crime
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Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia is on an official visit to Sweden.
Meeting with the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs Morgan Johansson
the two ministers discussed a variety of issues including strengthening the fight against organized and property crime.
Effective cooperation between the Georgian and Swedish law enforcing bodies was praised at the meeting of the two ministers.
It was further noted that the number of crimes committed by Georgian citizens in Sweden has decreased, however, a lot of Georgians are still seeking asylum in the country.
Nevertheless, the Swedish Minister Johansson does not believe the visa-free regime with the EU is under question. He said this issue has not even been raised on the political agenda.
At the meeting Minister Gakharia introduced his Swedish counterpart to the changes in the law that will introduce tougher sanctions against Georgian citizens violating the Georgia-EU visa-free travel agreement, which includes new regulations concerning the changing of surnames.
Georgia and Sweden also discussed sending Georgian detainees from Swedish jails to serve their sentence in their homeland.
Prior to meeting with Minister Johansson, Gakharia met with the new National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg who has assumed this position in February.
The Georgian delegation headed by Minister Gakharia also met with the Deputy Speaker of Swedish Parliament Björn Söder.
The Swedish colleagues reiterated their support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and the non-recognition policy of its Russian occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia).
Minister Gakharia stressed Georgia’s European aspirations are among the country’s top priorities.
- The Georgia-EU visa waiver came into play on March 28, 2017.
- Georgian citizens holding biometric passports can travel to the EU’s Schengen Zone for a period of 90 days within any 180-day period for purposes other than working.
Georgia and Europol are expanding joint efforts to better deal with different types of crime. Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia and Europol's Director Rob Wainwright have signed a Liaison Agreement and a Memorandum of Understanding on secure communication line protocol.
The Georgian and Serbian foreign ministers signed a visa free deal between the two countries on March 7.The agreement, which will come into play in the coming hours, will enable Georgian citizens holding ordinary passports to travel visa free to Serbia.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has confirmed today that new regulations will be established concerning the changing of surnames to prevent Georgian citizens from violating the Georgia-EU visa free regulations.
Germany is discussing the issue of listing Georgia in the category of safe countries, Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced.
The Swedish government will allocate 2.3 million USD to provide support for Georgian small and medium-sized businesses, which work in the fields of information and communication technologies, business consulting, internet design and architecture.
Georgia and Italy are teaming up to fight economic and financial crime, announces the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia.