Colombia’s ambassador to Spain has said that the much-anticipated European Union visa-waiver for Colombian citizens will go into effect before April this year, reported news agency Colprensa on Tuesday.
The visa exemption allows Colombian citizens to travel visa-free in 26 European countries known as the Schengen area – with the exception of Switzerland and the UK which issue their own visa regulations.
MORE: Spain anticipates EU visa waiver for Colombians done in 2014
According to Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy the visa exemption is almost finalized, but is “missing an executive body of the European Union and approval in parliament, but there is already an agreement which in principle incorporated the visa exemption for Colombians and Peruvians,” Colprensa reported.
The Colombian ambassador to Spain, Fernando Carrillo, noted that the fundamental agreement of the visa lift is already in place, but “we need a technical assessment and hope that the good news is given at the end of the first quarter of 2014.”
Colombia was granted this diplomatic advantage because “..it is a country that has a position at this time of economic stability, institutional reform and social outcomes rather an essential legal certainty for investment foreign, not offered by other states in the region,” the ambassador told the news agency.
President Juan Manuel Santos and Finance Minister Mauricio Cárdenas will arrive in Spain on Tuesday to meet with Spanish King Juan Carlos and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to discuss diplomatic relations between the two countries.
