Georgia joined the European Migration Network as an observer in March 2021, the Ministry of Justice of Georgia reports.

The sides have already signed the relevant agreement. The European Migration Network welcomes for the first time countries outside the European Economic Area: Georgia and Moldova.

The working agreement represents an important step towards reinforced cooperation in the areas of migration and asylum. It establishes the conditions of administrative cooperation between the European Commission and Georgia that accommodate both current and future co-operation needs.

Monique Pariat, Director General of the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission stated: “In order to manage migration better, it is important to increase EU cooperation with third countries. This was emphasised in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Having Georgia as a part of the European Migration Network will enable us to share our European good practices in managing migration while getting a better understanding of migration from a Caucasus perspective”.

“Development of the migration management system is an important pillar of Georgia’s integration with the European Union. Therefore, the policy is based on the principle of ‘migration and development’, emphasizing research, expert exchanges, analysis on modern migratory trends and means for reaction – everything in which the European Migration Network is advanced in”, Gocha Lordkipanidze, the Minister of Justice of Georgia, Chair of the State Commission on Migration Issues, stated.

The European Migration Network (EMN) is a Europe-wide network consisting of National Contact Points (NCPs) in the EU Member States and Norway, providing information on migration and asylum. The EMN was set up in 2008 by the European Commission on behalf of the European Council in order to satisfy the need for a regular exchange of reliable information on migration and asylum related issues on a European level. The possibility to cooperate with third countries is foreseen in the Council Decision on establishing a European Migration Network.