European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has praised Armenia’s progress toward visa liberalization with the European Union, saying the country is the only partner currently engaged in an active visa liberalization dialogue with the bloc.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan on Thursday, von der Leyen said the ongoing process reflects the depth of EU-Armenia relations.
“Armenia is the only partner country currently engaged in an active visa liberalization dialogue with the European Union. That already shows the stepping up of our partnership,” she said.
Von der Leyen noted that the European Commission published a progress report on Armenia’s Visa Liberalization Action Plan in April and commended the country’s commitment to implementing the required reforms.
“It is very impressive to see the progress, and we know how much it matters to the Armenian people,” she said.
She announced that new EU assessment missions will visit Armenia this autumn to evaluate progress on the remaining benchmarks. Once all the required elements have been fulfilled, the European Commission will be able to submit a proposal to move to a visa-free regime.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated his government’s goal of achieving visa-free travel with the European Union within two years.
“I stated during the election campaign that our objective is to have a visa liberalization regime in place within two years. As 2026 is already halfway through, our goal is to achieve this by 2029,” he said.
Pashinyan stressed that much of the process depends on Armenia’s own reform efforts.
“In many cases, the questions should not be directed to the European Union, but to ourselves – how prepared we are and how effectively we implement our reform agenda,” he said.
The Prime Minister added that visa liberalization is a priority for the Armenian public and expressed confidence that the government would work efficiently to achieve the objective within the targeted timeframe.
