President Petro Poroshenko emphasizes the importance of ensuring proper protection of rights and interests of Ukrainians who will travel to Europe taking advantage of the visa-free regime.
In the course of the working trip to Volyn region, President Poroshenko outlined a set of issues that must be solved to create proper conditions for Ukrainians to use the right to visa-free travel to the EU countries on the border crossing points.
According to the President, this is a proper protection of rights and interests of Ukrainians abroad. “The visa-free regime will allow many citizens to travel abroad for the first time and our diplomatic and consular offices must be fully ready to protect their interests,” the President addressed Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin.
The Head of State underlined the importance of improvement of the border and customs control, modernization of infrastructure of the border crossing points. In addition, the resolution of problems in the issuance of international passports is also important. He also emphasizes that it is necessary to analyze the legal basis and grounds for the issuance of international passports to citizens who stay in the occupied territories or in Crimea.
Petro Poroshenko says that the border crossing points must be equipped properly and local authorities can allocate funds for their modernization. According to him, it is necessary to create normal sanitary conditions, equip areas of rest and food places to “create normal European conditions for people”. “I will require that. Coordination of efforts is essential to achieve this result,” he said.
The Head of State noted that Ukraine has a positive experience in harmonization of Ukrainian and European legislation. The President addressed the Foreign Ministry to join the process and submit a schedule of the roadmap for his approval: what and when must be ensured in the process of legislation harmonization with the EU.
