Georgia marks anniversary of visa-free travel with EU
Georgian citizens holding biometric passports can travel to EU/Schengen Zone visa-free for 90 days within a 180-day period, including for tourism, family visits, and business. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Tweet 
Share
Georgia marked the fifth anniversary of its visa-free travel agreement with the European Union on Monday.
Five years ago on this day, the regulation lifting visa requirements for Georgians to travel to the EU and Schengen Area states entered into effect.
Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Georgian citizens holding biometric passports can travel to EU/Schengen Zone visa-free for 90 days within a 180-day period, including for tourism, family visits, and business.
Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Marking the date, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said Georgian nationals had paid over 1.5 million visits to countries of the Union since the implementation of visa-free travel, calling the figure a “concrete, tangible result after the signing of [Georgia’s] [2014] Association Agreement with the EU.”
The head of the Government said the Georgian Government “spared no effort” to effectively implement the "irreversible choice” of Georgian people for European integration.
Today marks the 5th anniversary of #visafree regime with ????????- historic achievement and another step on ????????'s European integration path. Our Gov't spares no effort to effectively implement irreversible European choice of Georgian people ultimately leading to country's ???????? membership! pic.twitter.com/HcZ9Ety5g6
— Irakli Garibashvili (@GharibashviliGe) March 28, 2022
Davit Zalkaliani, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, called the visa-free travel for Georgian nationals an opportunity for “taking major steps forward” on the path of the country’s EU integration.
The travel agreement with the EU has been a “vital” and “tangible benefit” for Georgian citizens, Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, said in his own comments on the date.
Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Celebratory visuals are displayed in streets across the country to mark the occasion between March 27-29.
Visa-free travel with the European Union has been a “vital” and “tangible benefit” for Georgian citizens, Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, said on Monday on the fifth anniversary of the country’s travel agreement with the EU and the Schengen Area countries.
Georgian law enforcement has strengthened its international cooperation during the five years of visa-free travel with the European Union, the Interior Ministry of Georgia said on Monday.
The visa-free travel with the European Union is a “wonderful opportunity for enhancing people-to-people contacts”, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani tweeted on Monday on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the agreement with the EU.
Georgia’s Government did “a lot of work” to achieve visa-free travel with the European Union for its citizens, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said at Monday’s Government meeting on the fifth anniversary of the agreement.
The Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia Shalva Papuashvili will visit Brussels on Tuesday for a series of meetings with European leaders, the Parliament of Georgia has said.
Russia's aggression against Ukraine and deteriorating security situation in the occupied regions of Georgia were discussed at the meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs David Zalkaliani and Zbigniew Rau, the Chairman-in-Office of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Poland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday.
Questions related to visa-free travel of Georgian citizens to the European Union/Schengen Area were discussed on Monday in a meeting between the Georgian Minister of Internal Affairs Vakhtang Gomelauri and Nicole de Moor, the State Secretary for Asylum and Migration of Belgium.
Georgia’s Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandre Darakhvelidze and Nicole de Moor, the State Secretary for Asylum and Migration of Belgium, on Monday noted the need for continued cooperation for honing procedures related to visa-free travel to European Union/Schengen Area for Georgian citizens, as well as for ensuring accurate information against “fake news” over the matter.