Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia in the framework of EU financed project (ENIGMMA) with support of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in Georgia, organized a conference on the Implementation of Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP). The event was attended by the representatives of the embassies of European Union member states, and representatives of international organizations, reports GHN based on the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Mr. Shalva Kvinikhidze - Director of International Relations Department and Mr. Janos Herman - Head of the European Union Delegation to Georgia welcomed the participants of the conference. In the course of the event, implementation process of the Visa liberalization Action Plan (VLAP) within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia was discussed. Representatives of the MIA introduced reforms conducted within the ministry, including areas of Migration Department, Trafficking in Human Beings, Personal Data Protection in Police Sector and International Law Enforcement Cooperation.
The EU-Georgia Visa Dialogue was officially launched on June 4, 2012 and the Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP) was presented to Georgia on February 25, 2013. Visa Liberalization Action Plan envisages implementation of benchmarks in two phases: during the first phase the legal and institutional framework was established and the second phase is devoted to their effective implementation.
On October 29, 2014 EU Commission adopted the progress report on the implementation of the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP) by Georgia. According to which Georgia met the first-phase requirements of the visa dialogue and has officially moved to the implementation of II phase obligations.