President requests to push improvement of Ukraine-EU visa relations

The Foreign Ministry will intensify efforts

At today’s consultative meeting on topical issues in relations between Ukraine and the European Union in the field of migration and visas President Victor Yushchenko has instructed the Foreign Ministry to intensify efforts aimed at improving relations between Ukraine and the EU in migration-visa field, according to the President`s press-office.

Victor Yushchenko stressed that despite positive shift in Ukraine-EU visa relations introduced by the Agreement on simplification of visa regulations around five per cent of Ukrainians willing to travel to the EU were denied visas.

“Despite the overall positive trend, to my deepest conviction, five per cent denial rate for Ukrainian citizens does not meet the standards of our agreements with the EU », - President said, adding also that such visa policy is unequal in terms of mutuality.

Viktor Yushchenko also noted that some embassies of European countries often require Ukrainians to present documents, which had not been foreseen in the agreement on simplification of visa regulations.