EU SET FOR VISA FACILITATION TALKS WITH YEREVAN

Armenialiberty.org
Dec 20 2011

The European Union announced on Tuesday that it has formally agreed
to open negotiations with Armenia on simplifying its stringent visa
requirements for Armenians planning to visit EU countries.

A statement by the EU Delegation in Yerevan said the 27-nation bloc~Rs
supreme decision-making body, the Council, gave a relevant negotiating
mandate to the executive European Commission on Monday.

The Commission asked for the green light to start visa facilitation
talks with the Armenian government three months ago, after more than
a year of preliminary discussions with Armenian officials.

Armenia is entitled to signing a visa facilitation and ~Sreadmission~T
agreement with the EU as part of its involvement in the latter~Rs
Eastern Partnership program for six former Soviet republics.

The agreement would enable Armenian nationals to receive EU visas
with fewer documents and at a lower cost. Also, some categories of the
population such as university students, academics and state officials
would be eligible for long-term multiple-entry visas. For its part,
the Armenian side would pledge to help EU immigration authorities
expedite the repatriation of Armenian illegal immigrants.

~SOnce the Commission estimates that negotiations with Armenia are
finalized, the Council will need to adopt decisions on signing and
concluding the agreements by qualified majority and the European
Parliament will need to give its consent,~T read the EU Delegation
statement.

It did not specify just when talks on the signing of such a deal will
start and how long they could take.

The visa deal would be part of an Armenia-EU ~Sassociation agreement~T
which is envisaged by the Eastern Partnership. Another, more important
element of that agreement is the creation of the Deep and Comprehensive
Free Trade Area (DCFTA) that will eliminate all barriers to trade
between Armenia and the world~Rs biggest and richest single market.

Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian urged the European Commission to
accelerate the official launch of DCFTA talks when he visited Brussels
early this month. He told EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht that his
government has fully complied with EU preconditions for those talks.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress