Second round of negotiations on visa facilitation regime and new readmission agreement starts in Brussels

The second round of negotiations on the Agreement between Moldova and the European Union on the facilitation of visas and readmission agreement for the persons with illegal residence start in Brussels on Tuesday, April 17. According to the Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, the round of Moldova-EU talks at expert level took place on April 16 with a view to concluding the readmission agreement. There were examined the proposals submitted by Moldova to the European Commission on March 16. Moldova is represented at the negotiations by a delegation headed by Valeriu Ostalep, deputy-minister of Foreign Affairs. The European Union will be represented by Jean-Louis de Brouwer, director for Immigration, Borders and Asylum at the European Commission’s Directorate General Justice, Freedom and Security. The first round of negotiations on visa facilitation agreement and the Readmission Agreement took place on February 9, 2007. Recently, on April 3, in Chisinau took place a round of consultations between Moldovan and European experts within which the draft of the Visa Facilitation Agreement between Moldova and EU was prepared for the April 17 round of negotiations. According to the cited source, the Agreement on the readmission of illegal residents will be a legal instrument between EU and Moldova which includes a new cooperation framework with the EU for preventing and combating together illegal migration. The Visa Facilitation Agreement includes a series of facilitations related to the procedure of obtaining visas by the Moldovan citizens for travelling to the EU member countries, including maintaining the price of EUR 35, compared with EUR 60; free issuance of visas for a significant number of citizens (especially students, carriers, pensioners, journalists, businessmen etc.)