Civil Servant Mobility Program: Focus Georgia

EUROPEUM Institute for Europen Policy organized last week a week long educational visit for three Georgian state officials as a part of Think Visegrad Program.

The event was financially supported by the International Visegrad Fund and it was part of the Civil Servant Mobility Program. The aim of these visits is exchange of information and establishment of relevant contacts between officials from V4 and the Eastern Partnership.

Georgia has recently taken important steps towards removing the visa obligation for the Schengen countries. Implementation of the second action plan should be finished next year. The country, however, still needs to take a series of practical steps ranging from creating effective coordination structures to implementing concrete technical mechanisms. The chosen Georgian representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Justice therefore arrived to the Czech Republic to make use of their Czech colleagues' experience in the matter of visa liberation and connected international aspects of international cooperation (migration, asylum policy, Schengen evaluation mechanism etc.). 

The representatives attended a number of meeting with officials from Czech Ministries of International Affairs, Interior and Justice. They also engaged in discussions with police officials and experts from relevant non-profit organizations. Furthermore, they talked about the intensification of EU-Georgia relations with Senate representatives. They are therefore leaving with a lot of information, recommendations and promises.