On Monday, Vice-President Schinas will be in Yerevan, Armenia for the launch at political level of a dialogue on visa liberalisation.

Vice-President Schinas will meet with the President of Armenia, Vahagn Khachaturyan, the Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ararat Mirzoyan to discuss the launch of the visa liberalization dialogue and other aspects of the EU-Partnership Agenda.

The launch of the dialogue on visa liberalisation – at the political level with Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan – is a strong signal by the EU and its Member States of their determination to deepen the already solid partnership between the EU and Armenia. The aim of this dialogue is to eventually lift the visa obligation for citizens of Armenia for short term stays in the EU once the Armenian authorities have implemented substantial reforms in key areas such as security of travel documents, border, migration and asylum management, public order and security, and fundamental rights related to the freedom of movement.  As the experience with other third countries has shown, this dialogue with Armenia will be a multi-year process that will be undertaken in very close cooperation with EU Member States to monitor reform progress and developments.

During his stay the Vice President will also engage in a discussion with the students of Yerevan State University on the substantial progress in EU-Armenia relations recently and the prospects for their further deepening based on shared values.