YEREVAN, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The European Union and Armenia have officially entered the operational phase of the Visa Liberalisation Dialogue during a Senior Officials' Meeting in Yerevan, the EU Delegation to Armenia announced on Friday.
The meeting, which brought Deputy Director-General for Migration and Home Affairs at the European Commission Johannes Luchner and Armenian Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan, aimed to outline the reforms required for Armenian citizens to gain visa-free access to the European Union.
The senior officials discussed the necessary reforms in areas such as document security, border and migration management, mobility and asylum policies, as well as measures to combat corruption and organized crime.
Both sides reiterated that the process is substance-based, with no set deadline for its conclusion and no automatic outcome. They agreed that the next steps would involve two scoping visits in early 2025. These visits will allow experts from EU institutions and Member States to conduct a gap analysis of Armenia's progress in meeting the criteria for visa-free travel to the European Union.
The results of these scoping missions will help determine the specific conditions that Armenia must meet to achieve the long-term objective of visa-free travel for its citizens to the European Union. ■
