According to Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili, the meeting between the Georgian and European Commission delegations in Brussels was held within the framework of the visa dialogue предусмотрed by EU regulations, and its main purpose was to present Georgia’s positions and arguments in detail to the European side. She made this statement to journalists.

“The meeting was held within the visa dialogue framework, as provided by EU regulations, and concerned the issues of partial suspension of the visa regime. The Georgian side, in turn, presented its positions regarding the concerns and recommendations that had been raised by the EU. This was the first working-level meeting, during which an exchange of views took place. Our main goal was to ensure that the European side received information at this level about Georgia’s positions on each issue related to the visa dialogue and, in this specific case, the activation of the suspension mechanism,” the Foreign Minister said.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Georgian side expects the process to continue and for the EU to take into consideration the legitimate arguments within the visa dialogue.

“We will see how events develop. This was the first meeting, not the last one, and we expect the EU side to take more into account the legitimate reasons that exist within the visa dialogue framework and the legitimate conditions presented by the Georgian side,” Botchorishvili noted.

She added that there was no discussion during the meeting about future steps, and that in reality it was an initial meeting focused on exchanging information between the sides.