In accordance with the EU New Neighborhood and Eastern Partnership programs it is anticipated to conduct activities, which will facilitate the traveling conditions or in other words the visa regime moderation for the Armenian citizens applying for EU visas. So what do these changes imply in practice and are there any approximate dates for the adoption of these regulations? As a response to our question the head of the consulate of the foreign affairs ministry of Armenia Tigran Seyranyan said that the change of the visa regime is one of the regulations of the policy of the New Neighborhood. This is a process containing various elements and components. This implies facilitation of the regime of the providing Schengen visas to certain categories of Armenian citizens, such as students, statesmen, businessmen scientists and cultural actors. It is planned that the issues connected with the process will be discussed in the framework of the sub-committee on justice, liberty and security of the Armenia-EU cooperation. Most probably the sub-committee will start functioning this summer. In the meantime they should start the process of facilitating and moderating the entry visa procedures. The next vital component is the common agreement on readmission. Although Armenia has such an agreement with a number of European states (Lithuania, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Bulgaria, Sweden, Benelux states and Norway) we are willing to negotiate on the common agreement of readmission between Armenia and the EU. And we expect that this takes place very soon. The foreign affairs ministry is currently negotiating with the Schengen member states by trying to exempt the diplomats from a Schengen visa. Armenia currently has such an agreement with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Switzerland. Starting from April 1 this agreement will work with France as well. We are sure that due to common work with our European counterparts we will step by step approach the purpose of Joint Convention of Prague, which defines “support the movement of citizens in a secure environment and liberation from the visa regulation.”
