Within the frames of the first official visit to France Mr. Giorgi Mghebrishvili, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia had a meeting with Mr. Bernard Kazenev, Interior Minister of France.
The sides discussed the issues of cooperation and focused on the importance of joint efforts in fight against illegal migration, transnational and organized crime.
The Minister of Internal Affairs introduced to his French colleague the ongoing and planned reforms of the Ministry.
Mr. Bernard Kazenev thanked the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia and said that he appreciates the progress achieved by Georgia in implementation of Visa Liberalization Action Plan that is positively reflected in the report of European Commission.
According to Mr. Giorgi Mghebrishvili - "visa-free travel to Schengen countries has great political and strategic importance for Georgia and its citizens". He expressed hope that final decision on visa-free travel of the citizens of Georgia to EU countries will be positive.
The Minister of Interior of France emphasized the importance of illegal migration and organized crime problems. For his part, Mr. Giorgi Mghebrishvili emphasized that in order to overcome the mentioned problems police cooperation between the countries is extremely important. The Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia expressed his readiness for further deepening of the existing cooperation with the French Police both on operative and non-operative levels.
According to Mr. Giorgi Mghebrishvili Georgia has already signed Agreement on Fight against Crime with 15 EU countries. In the nearest future, the Agreement on Operative and Strategic Cooperation between the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and Europol (European Police Office) will be signed and special attention shall be paid to strengthening of the security of state borders and fight illegal migration.
French and Georgian Interior Ministers noted the successful cooperation between the criminal police of both countries and effective activities of police liaison officers.
Mr. Giorgi Mghebrishvili and Mr. Bernard Kazenev agreed on further deepening of the the existing relations between the law enforcement agencies of the both countries.
