Mitsotakis: The rapprochement between Greece and Turkey has tangible results – 2024-04-21 02:25:52

Tour to Lesvos is carried out by the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who visited the port of Mytilini in the morning, where the granting of visas with an express procedure for visitors from Turkey has been put into pilot application since the end of March. The Prime Minister even had the opportunity to talk with Turkish tourists who had arrived a little earlier at the port and was guided around the upgraded facilities where the visa issuance process is carried out by the Minister of Immigration and Asylum Dimitris Kairides, who informed him about the course of the program.

In the first phase, Visa Express, lasting seven days, is available for travel to Mrthe Lesvosthe Rosethe Samo and the Chios. By the end of April, five more islands will join the initiative, Limnos, Leros, Kalymnos, Kastellorizo ​​and Symi.

Following the implementation of Visa Express, the arrivals of Turkish citizens to Lesbos from the end of March to last Wednesday were up 868% compared to 2023, boosting the local economy ahead of the peak tourist season and helping to strengthen relations between the two peoples .

Kyriakos Mitsotakis made the following statement:

“I really want to congratulate the local authorities, the regional governor, the mayor, the minister, for launching a very important program for all the Aegean islands – but I put special emphasis on the north-eastern Aegean, here on Lesbos where we are.

You see a program that works, and works very effectively, is the visa facilitation program, which enables Turkish visitors who do not have a visa to actually obtain one within minutes.

What today seems so easy and self-evident took a lot of work to implement and a lot of effort from the minister, as it is the only such visa facilitation program that currently “runs” throughout the Schengen area.

Obviously, it would not be possible to launch such a program, if our country had not regained the credibility it had lost in recent years, so that the European authorities know that they are dealing with a serious country, which can – and at high speed – to process visa applications for entry into the Schengen zone, with speed and absolute security. So, we look forward to many more visitors.

Let me remind you that the program ultimately concerns 10 islands and 14 ports – the rest of the islands will join by the end of April – and we expect, especially here for Lesvos, dear Mr. Regional Governor and Mr. Mayor, many more visitors.

I don’t need to talk about how important this is to the local economy of the island. I think this is confirmed by the smiles of all the agencies involved, who see a significant additional tourist traffic from Turkey.

Let me say one last thing, this program is also the practical confirmation that the rapprochement between Greece and Turkey has tangible real results, first and foremost for our islanders, who are the first who want us to live in peace and security with our neighbor and to obviously also have the financial benefits from this regular communication, which has been launched in the last weeks and will be strengthened from here on.”

“I wanted to remind you of something: About a year ago you had visited Lesvos and I made some requests to you at the Chamber. A request, which I raised with emphasis, which had already been raised by members of parliament, was the facilitation of granting visas to visitors to the islands, and you did it”, noted the Regional Governor of the North Aegean, Kostas Moutzouris, for his part.

Mr. Mitsotakis was also informed about the preparations that have been made at the total of 14 ports that already operate or will operate as gateways for visitors using Visa Express, thanks to which the waiting time for the check does not exceed 15 minutes per traveler . Afterwards, the Prime Minister spoke with officials of the Coast Guard and was informed about the significant reduction in illegal immigration flows to Lesbos.

Immediately after, he took part in a meeting at Mytilini Town Hall with the mayor Panagiotis Christofas, during which issues of concern to the local community and infrastructure projects were discussed.