A regular meeting of the visa liberalization action plan working group was held at the level of deputy ministers at the Georgian Foreign Ministry on the 3rd of September 2014, led by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Ms Tamar Beruchashhvili, reports GHN based on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The participants of the meeting discussed the progress that has been achieved in the implementation of the visa liberalization action plan focusing on the issues relating to the fulfillment of the requirements of the legislative phase and of the transition to the second i.e. implementation phase of the action plan. It needs to be emphasized that Georgia has already complied with the requirements under the first phase. A total of 45 legislative amendments, 30 statutory acts and 8 strategies have been adopted; seven international conventions - ratified. The European Commission positively assessed the fulfillment of the first phase requirements. The second report of the European Commission already in the drafting stage will form the basis for the transition to the second phase.
The EU-Georgia visa dialogue was officially launched on the 4th of June 2012. On the 25th of February 2013 the visa liberalization action plan was officially submitted to the Government of Georgia. An inter-agency working group for the conduction of the visa dialogue with the EU was set up on the 28th of May 2012 (under Presidential Decree N429) the coordination of which is the responsibility of the Foreign Ministry. Meetings are held on a weekly basis within the framework of this working group with a view to planning and coordinating the fulfillment of due requirements.