PM: Canada may decide on removing visas for Romanians “in a few weeks”

Canada may decide to drop visas for Romanians in the next weeks, according to Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos Ciolos has been at the 71st UN General Assembly session in New York, this week. On the sideline of the UN Assembly, the Prime Minister also discussed with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau about visa liberalization for Romanian citizens. After the meeting, Ciolos said that Romania would receive a “concrete answer” from Canada in a few weeks. “I had a bilateral meeting, brief but concise and constructive, with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. After the meeting we had in Ottawa, I wanted to find out about the progresses in preparing the elimination of short-trip and travel visas for Romanians who want to go to Canada. I’m optimistic after the information I received from Prime Minister Trudeau. I think that, in a few weeks, we’ll have a more concrete answer about how will this be done, and in what terms,” Ciolos said. When journalists asked him if it is possible that the visas will be lifted in a few weeks, the Romanian Prime Minister stated that he would let it to the Canadian Government to announce how they think this problem can be solved. The two officials also discussed this matter earlier this year when Ciolos made an official visit to Canada. “Following the talks we had in Ottawa, it was very clear that Romania can support EU's trade agreement with Canada, but some things need to be clarified before that, including this issue related to visas, and Prime Minister Trudeau assured me that he would soon come up with a proposal in this sense, which I hope will be acceptable to us.” Ciolos also discussed with Trudeau about Canada’s support for setting up a multinational brigade at the Black Sea. When asked if he spoke with the Canadian Prime Minister about the number of Canadian troops who would participate in the multinational brigade, Ciolos said: “We didn’t’ go into details, because this is a subject that is treated by the ministers of defense, but we reconfirmed Canada's intention to support us in these efforts.” Canada will decide on removing visas for Romania by this fall Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Gov.ro)