Events

MINSK, 4 January (BelTA) – Belarus’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs has prepared proposals for easing the visa requirements with other countries including the EU, Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said in an interview with the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA learned from the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to Vladimir Makei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is now working to ease the visa requirements between Belarus and other countries, including the European Union. “We are now preparing relevant proposals, or rather have already prepared them. I hope that they will be agreed upon by all government bodies concerned, and we will report about them to the President. I think that this will help develop contacts, primarily in business and tourism,” said Vladimir Makei.

It is still a long away before Belarus and the EU abolish visa requirements. However, in 2014 and 2015 the parties made good progress on the visa facilitation and readmission agreements, the Minister added. Work on these documents was suspended through no fault of Belarus. Vladimir Makei recalled that last year, before the Riga Summit of the Eastern Partnership initiative member states, the European partners suddenly, speaking diplomatically, decided to look into technical details of some provisions of the agreement. "As a result, we were forced to revisit these provisions again. The matter is being agreed now. We do not believe that this is an insurmountable obstacle. We will continue working with our European partners to address those nuances that have arisen lately,” Vladimir Makei noted.