The removal of Georgia from the list of safe countries by Belgium may be related to certain technical or statistical data. Such a statement made today the Ambassador of Georgia to the Kingdom of Belgium.

“16 of the 20 EU states recognize Georgia as a safe country. In addition, it should be noted that not all EU countries have a similar approach. I also note that this is subject to change and any state may be removed or returned to this list at some point.

It is important that we work with our Belgian colleagues to find out exactly why this could have happened. I can say that we had active consultations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium, and the Ministry had a positive attitude and a positive recommendation regarding Georgia remaining on the list of safe countries.

Accordingly, such decisions are sometimes made on the basis of certain types of technical or statistical data. You know that in 2022, after the pandemic, we had a certain increase in the mobility of citizens, but I will add here that this year we have a drop in the number of asylum seekers.

As for the visa-free regime, I can tell you that it is not in danger, there was no communication from the EU regarding this. Moreover, the meeting of the Georgia-EU Association Committee is taking place today, and naturally, this topic would have been raised if there was any danger in the mentioned direction”, - said Vakhtang Makharoblishvili.