Moldova marks sixth anniversary of liberalization of visa regime with European Union
14:55 | 28.04.2020 Category: Official
Chisinau, 28 April /MOLDPRES/ - Moldova today marks the sixth anniversary of the liberalization of the visa regime with the European Union. On this period, over 2.3 million Moldovan citizens have made more than 8.5 million travels to the Schengen Area. Moldova became the first country of the Eastern Partnership to benefit from this regime, the Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry’s (MAEIE) press service has reported.
During the six years, Moldova has ensured the continuity of the carrying out of the reforms and requirements which stayed at the basis of the visa regime’s liberalization, as well as implemented the recommendations worked out by the competent European institutions on this period. Thus, the possibility to travel to EU is open for all owners of Moldovan biometric passports, including for those with residence in the Transnistrian region.
On this period, MAEIE has promoted information campaigns on the conditions of travel to the Schengen states, including the rules of entrance and stay in these countries, ensuring an efficient cooperation with the competent national institutions, in order to provide needed assistance to citizens.
According to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), the refusals of entry for Moldovan citizens stood at about 0.3 per cent and the cases of illegal stay accounted for about 0.5 per cent of all trips to EU. Thus, Moldovan citizens had possibility to have a responsible attitude towards the freedom of travel to the Schengen Area.
On the period 2014-2020, thanks to the free visa regime with EU, through the inter-human contacts facilitated by the free visa travels, representatives of the public and private sectors, civil society and academic environment have benefited from the advantages of the participation in diverse events, in many EU programmes, which, for their part, created new opportunities for personal, professional development and economic development of Moldova.
