Opinions & Interviews
Belarus MFA prioritizes citizens’ interests when negotiating terms to ease visa rules
MINSK, 2 June (BelTA) – The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs prioritizes the interests of Belarusian citizens when negotiating terms to relax visa requirements with other countries, spokesperson for the ministry Dmitry Mironchik told reporters on 2 June, BelTA has learned.
Dmitry Mironchik pointed out that the work on the agreement with the European Union continues. “Now we are at the stage of defending the interests of Belarusian nationals. It is our priority to secure more relaxed visa requirements for travelling to third countries for them. We are working on this. When we see that our partners are not willing to ease their visa rules, we continue our efforts to achieve this,” the spokesperson explained.
Dmitry Mironchik stressed that Belarus started relaxing its visa requirements quite some time ago. The work does not arouse much discussion in Belarus, because it concerns nationals of other countries. “Those criticizing the cost of Belarusian visas tend to forget that Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and Polish citizens get visas at a much lower cost, if I am not mistaken, at €25. That was a unilateral decision of the Belarusian side made more than ten years ago, long before we heard about Schengen visas at €35. We made that decision and we expected a reciprocal move,” Dmitry Mironchik emphasized.
He also recalled that the cost of a Belarusian visa for UK citizens was reduced. However, that move was not reciprocated either.
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