EU Council of Ministers gives nod to easier visa issuance rules for Ukraine
KYIV. May 13 (Interfax) - The European Union Council of Ministers has approved the European Parliament-backed enhanced visa facilitation agreement with Ukraine.
"Good news arrived from Brussels just a few minutes ago. The European Union's Council of Ministers confirmed ratification of the enhanced visa facilitation agreement," Ukraine's commissioner for foreign-policy and integration processes Kostiantyn Yeliseyev said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
This means that Ukraine will accelerate corresponding internal procedures, he said.
"I hope the enhanced agreement will take effect on July 1," he said, adding that Ukrainian citizens will start benefitting from this agreement this summer.
Everything will be done to ensure that the European Union's consular services in Kyiv start implementing this important agreement in full, Yeliseyev said.
"We are not stopping at this. Our priority is visa-free travel," he said.
The European Parliament on April 18 approved the entry into force of a visa facilitation agreement between Ukraine and the European Union.
The relaxed visa issuance procedures will apply to drivers providing international cargo and passenger transportation services, journalists and technical personnel accompanying them, participants in official exchanges between relatives residing in Ukraine and the European Union, and citizens traveling to the EU to undergo medical treatment.
Easier visa issuance procedures will also apply to representatives of public organizations to prepare seminars and conferences, delegates to international exhibitions, conferences and symposiums, members of religious communities and participants in the European Union's programs for cross-border cooperation.
The agreement is expected to take effect on July 1 2013.