Armenia-EU visa facilitation talks to launch Feb 27

PanARMENIAN.Net - Yerevan will host Armenia-European Union negotiations on a Visa Facilitation Agreement and a Readmission Agreement on February 27, 2012.

In September 2011, the European Commission proposed opening negotiations on visa facilitation and readmission agreements with Armenia. After all requirements for visa facilitation are in place, such a regime will be feasible. Once negotiated, the agreements on visa facilitation and readmission can only enter into force simultaneously.

The EU has already launched a Mobility Partnership with Armenia in October 2011. Ten EU Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden) participate. This is a flexible and non-legally binding framework for well-managed movements of people, and is expected to enhance Armenia’s ability to manage migration and inform, integrate and protect migrants and returnees, as well as boost Armenia's capacity to curb irregular migration and human trafficking.

The EU's visa policy is aimed at achieving a proper balance between internal security and external stabilisation, acceptable to all sides. One of the EU’s foreign policy instruments for achieving this aim are the visa facilitation and readmission agreements. So far, the EU has concluded visa facilitation agreements with nine non-EU countries, including Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. Based on these agreements, both EU and non-EU citizens benefit from facilitated procedures for issuing visas, Delegation of the European Union to Armenia press service reported.