On 13 September the 5th Meeting of the Armenia-EU Joint Visa Facilitation Committee took place in Yerevan. The Meeting was co-chaired by Tigran Samvelian, Head of the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, and Diederik Paalman, Deputy Head of the Visa Policy and Document Security Unit of the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission.

The two sides recognized the progress in the implementation of the Armenia-EU Visa Facilitation Agreement and considered steps ahead to further increase its full implementation and effectiveness. They also discussed relevant statistics as well as raised issues on the fulfilment of the Agreement, namely taking into account some difficulties in the process of applying for and obtaining visas from the EU Member States’ Consulates/Visa Centres.

The recent positive changes and trends in the respective areas were presented.

The importance of continuous mutual efforts aimed at promoting the mobility of citizens, fighting irregular migration and considering in due course the opening of the Visa Liberalization Dialogue was underscored.