Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreement in the focus of the EU Centre’s monthly meeting for journalists

The second informal meeting for journalists was held on Tuesday, 7 May 2013 in the EU Centre. The Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreement with Armenia were discussed with the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, H.E. Ambassador Traian Hristea, Head of EU Division of Foreign Affairs Ministry of Armenia Mher Margaryan and Policy Advisor on Migration from the EU Advisory Group project Eleonora Vergeer.

The Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Traian Hristea noted that even though visa facilitation is not visa freedom it offers much more opportunities for Armenian people to travel to the EU. “Visa facilitation simplifies the procedures, shortens the time that people have to wait for the visa and reduces the visa fee,” the Ambassador stated. ”Furthermore, many people like students, academics, journalist, pensioners, sportsmen and representatives of the civil society will get their visa free,” Mr Hristea added.

According to the Head of EU Division of MFA Mher Margaryan, Armenia has a good record in implementing the readmission agreements with many EU countries which will be now superseded by this framework agreement. “We have signed Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements and they will enter into force together hopefully by the end of summer” Mr Margaryan said.

The EU Centre launched the informal meetings for the journalists in April 2013. The first series of the meetings is called “The Road to Vilnius” to mark the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Vilnius at the end of November. The format of the monthly meetings is informal to encourage open discussion as an opportunity to learn more of the background.