Events

MINSK, 9 November (BelTA) - Belarusian MPs ratified the intergovernmental agreement with Turkmenistan on cooperation in combating crime on 9 November, BelTA has learned.

The agreement was signed during the visit of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko to Ashgabat on 30 March 2017.

When presenting the document, First Deputy Interior Minister Ivan Podgursky noted that the current agreement on cooperation between the interior ministries of Belarus and Turkmenistan was signed in Minsk in 1993. It is outdated and needs adjusting. In addition, certain matters of cooperation in law enforcement matters envisaged in the current document are not longer the purview of the Interior Ministry of Belarus.

The agreement consists of 15 articles and is concluded for an indefinite period, Ivan Podgursky said.

The new document suggests expanding the scope and areas of cooperation. For example, the major forms of interaction will include the execution of requests for assistance, the implementation of coordinated operational and intelligence measures and preventive measures, the exchange of information on crimes committed or being prepared, and also the adoption of the measures needed for their prevention. In addition, the document provides for the exchange of operational, background, forensic and other information of mutual interest, the exchange of legislative and other legal information, scientific and special literature, assisting in the preparation and improvement of professional skills of the staff.

The Belarusian MPs also ratified the protocol amending the agreement between the Governments of Russia and Belarus on the use of the migration card as of 5 October 2004. The protocol signed in Grodno on 6 April 2017 aims to establish the international legal conditions for further development of the integration processes between the two countries.

Ivan Podgursky explained that the implementation of the protocol will exempt foreign nationals crossing the state border of Belarus for a temporary stay of the need to fill in migration cards, which, in turn, will make the procedure of crossing the state border easier. This is particularly important in connection with queues that we regularly see on the border road crossings on weekends, religious days and holidays. This is important in the light of a number of steps to ease the visa regime, he said.

Ivan Podgursky noted that Belarus has a number of the information resources in the field of migration. All law enforcement and regulatory authorities have access to them. Thus, there is no need to require all foreign national coming to Belarus for a short stay to fill in migration cards.

At the same time, those foreign nationals who transit through the territory of Belarus to Russia or vice versa are still required to fill in migration cards. So are the foreigners living permanently or temporarily in Belarus when going to Russia, Ivan Podgursky added.