The European Commission plans to approve the proposals for negotiations on facilitation of visa regime with Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2011, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom said at a session of European Parliament in Strasbourg on December 13, UNIAN reports.

“Next year we plan to adopt proposals for negotiations on agreements on easing the visa regime with Armenia and Azerbaijan,” she said.

According to her, at present only Ukraine and Moldova have existing agreements on visa facilitation among “Eastern Partnership” participants. The ratification process of the same agreement with Georgia is almost over and recently the European Commission has put forward a proposal to start negotiations on the agreement on facilitating visa regime with Belarus, Malmstrom stressed.

The agreement on facilitation of visa regime provides for reduction of visa fee by EUR €60 to 35, abolishing visas for some categories and holders of diplomatic passports.