BULGARIAN AND CANADIAN OFFICIALS DISCUSSED VISA LIFTING

Early this autumn, Canada is expected to unveil the timeline for lifting the visa requirements for Bulgarian and Romanian citizens.

This emerged after a meeting in Brussels on 11th of July hosted by European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs, and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos and involving Canada’s Immigration Minister John McCallum, Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Interior Philip Gounev, Deputy Foreign Minister Roumean Alexandrov and the Head of Prime Minister's Chancellery of Romania Dragos Tudorache.

The participants in the meeting reviewed the progress made to date on Canada's ongoing assessment of Bulgaria and Romania against its criteria for visa-free travel.

A visit by Canadian technical experts took place in Romania to assess the preparedness of the country for lifting the visas. Similar visit by Canadian technical experts will take place in Bulgaria in July, BNT envoy in Brussels, Valdi Velev, explained.

Bulgaria will insist on clear deadlines to resolve the issue of lifting visa requirements before the EU-Canada summit, due to be held on 27th of October for signing the trade agreement, the BNT reporter said.

It was namely the signing of this trade deal that started the procedure connected with the lifting of the visa requirements. In May 2016, Bulgaria and Romania warned that they could refuse to ratify the upcoming EU-Canada trade and investment agreement if they were not guaranteed free visa travel for their citizens.