- ANKARA, SEPTEMBER 30 - The European Union for thefirst time is planning to draw a road map to completely removevisa requirements for Turkish citizens, while in the meantimethe union will take steps to ease visa procedures, according toCecilia Malmstrom, European Commission representative forinterior affairs as daily Hurriyet reports. The process willstart in the fall and will have five steps starting withgranting longer visas, then multi-entry visas, then shorteningthe processing time, then reducing the paperwork required, andthen extending again or even eliminating visas for certainsectors. Turkey's European Union Minister Egemen Bagis onWednesday participated in a session of the European Parliamentdiscussing the union's visa regime for Turkish nationals. TheEU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee meeting on Wednesday wasthe first high-level meeting between Turkey and the EU on whatAnkara hopes will lead to further negotiations to remove visarequirements for Turks visiting EU member countries.

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