In a ceremony at the White House rose garden on Friday, United States (US) President George W. Bush announced that seven countries – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and South Korea – had met the requirements to be admitted to the US Visa Waiver Program (VWP).
Bush also announced that a number of America's other close friends, including Malta, were participating in the "visa waiver road map" process to qualify for the program.
Ambassadors from these "road map" countries, including Malta’s Ambassador to the US, Mark Miceli Farrugia, were on hand to hear the US President underscore his support for continued expansion of the VWP to include these "roadmap" countries and acknowledge the significant progress Malta had made.
The President was quoted as saying he expected that Malta would be admitted to the program “soon”.
US Ambassador to Malta Molly H Bordonaro noted that all agreements were “complete” and that the US government remained committed to concluding the remaining work this year.
“Malta is making great progress and I am hopeful that we’ll be able to announce that Malta is close to joining.” She added: “We feel they will be within the VWP soon, possibly by the end of the year.”

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