On the 15th and 16th of September 2014, consultations were held in Chisinau, with a view to sharing experience in the area of European integration and the implementation of the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP), reports GHN based on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
From the Georgian side, the delegation was led by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Ms Tamar Beruchashvili, and from the Moldovan side - by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Ms Lulian Groza. Within the framework of the visit, Tamar Beruchashvili held meetings with the Moldovan Foreign Minister, Ms Natalia Gherman, Deputy Minister of Economy, Mr Octavian Calmac, Deputy Justice Minister, Mr Igor Grusus and the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee of Foreign Relations and European Integration, Ms Ana Gutu.
In parallel, inter-agency meetings were held with officials of the Moldovan Ministries of Internal Affairs, Health Protection, Information Technologies and communications, as well as with representatives of the Migration and Asylum Bureau, National Committee against Trafficking, National Center for Personal Data Protection, Anti Corruption Centre and National Council for the Elimination of Discrimination.
Discussions focused on visa liberalization issues and priority topics on the European integration agenda, including the implementation of the Association Agreement and the preparation of the Eastern Partnership Summit scheduled to take place in Riga in 2015. During meetings held in connection with visa regime liberalization, the Moldovan delegation shared its experience with the Georgian colleagues in terms of visa policy; fight against organized crime; implementation of anti-drug strategy; co-operation with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and EUROJUST; migration and shelter policies; documents security; fight against trafficking and corruption; protection of personal data; and effective implementation of anti-discriminative law.
Intensive meetings held within the visit were constructive and effective; and provided the Georgian delegation with an opportunity to obtain exhaustive information on the process of visa regime liberalization.
Moldova has successfully gone through all stages to establish visa-free travel and since the 28th of April 2014 it has been enjoying visa-free travel regime. Therefore, sharing Moldova's experience is of particular importance for Georgia with a view to exchanging information; to receiving recommendations; and to outlining further steps.
Georgia has completed the first phase of the Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP) and upon publishing of the European Commission's report the country in the nearest future will be formally shifted to the second phase, which implies the effective implementation of the law adopted within the legal phase. It should be noted that Georgia has already begun to implement the obligations under the second phase.