On October 9, in Brussels the eighth meeting of the Armenia-EU Joint Visa Facilitation Committee was held. The meeting was co-chaired by Arthur Petrosyan, the Head of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, and Antoine Savary, the Deputy Head of the Visa Policy Unit of the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission.

At the outset, opening remarks were delivered by the Co-chairs, followed by the adoption of the minutes of the Committee’s previous meeting. This was followed by the discussion on the implementation of the "Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Armenia on the facilitation of the issuance of visas". Particular attention was paid to visa statistics as well as issues arising from the implementation of the Agreement.

The Armenian side has presented the issues related to the implementation of the conditions set by the Agreement, particularly stressing the limited availability of appointments, the short validity period of the visas issued, and the need for the uniform application of the rules, required documents, and fees as defined by the Agreement. The parties discussed possible ways to address those issues.

The positive indicators of cooperation in the area of readmission and the progress achieved by Armenia were also touched upon.

The Armenia-EU visa liberalization process was also discussed during the meeting. The Armenian side emphasized its commitment to implement reforms arising from the Armenia-EU Visa Liberalization Action Plan.