Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 18 December (BelTA) – The visa agreement between Belarus and the Russian Federation will provide citizens of third countries with greater freedom in the Belarus-Russia Union State, Head of the Citizenship and Migration Department of the Belarusian Internal Affairs Ministry Aleksei Begun told reporters, BelTA has learned.

“Russia has already posted the official version of the draft agreement on its information website to show its commitment to the single migration space and demonstrate the benefits that the agreement will provide to citizens of third countries on the territory of the Union State,” Aleksei Begun said. The draft agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of Belarus on mutual recognition of visas has been published on the Russian official internet-portal of legal information.

“In order to sign the agreement, we need a presidential decree. In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, being the main body responsible for the negotiations with Russia, has prepared a draft decree, harmonized it with the government bodies concerned, and submitted it, in the prescribed manner, to the government which presented the entire package of documents for consideration of the Belarusian president. Now the document is in the President Administration. I think that a decision on this issue will be adopted soon,” Aleksei Begun said.