| Hakim Hayat |
BRUNEI citizens can visit the Russian Far East without visas, the Russian Prime Minister said.
A list of 18 countries including Brunei Darussalam has been approved whose citizens can obtain electronic single entry business, tourist or humanitarian visas when entering the Russian Federation through checkpoints at the free port of Vladivostok, Dmitry Medvedev announced on Monday.
Apart from Brunei, the list includes Algeria, Bahrain, India, Qatar, People’s Republic of China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Morocco, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tunisia, Turkey and Japan.
According to the prime minister, the move is expected to facilitate trade and investment into the area and enhance bilateral ties.
“This initiative is aimed at enhancing the investment appeal of the region and expanding business ties by facilitating projects involving foreign companies and attracting more foreign tourists,” he said in a statement.
The new move will simplify visa procedures for foreign nationals arriving in the Russian Federation through border checkpoints located within the free port of Vladivostok.
“The citizens of these countries shall benefit from simplified procedures when obtaining visas of up to 30 days with a period of stay in the Russian Federation not exceeding eight days. These visas can be executed as e-documents,” added the statement.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev
Meanwhile, the Russian Prime Minister told Russia News Agency TASS that under the new procedure, businessmen and tourists will not need to undergo the traditional Russian visa procedure. “It will be enough for foreigners to enter their data on a special website on the Internet,” Medvedev added.
He said the government is proactively forming modern infrastructure and creating special regimes in the Far East, adding that the law on visits to the Vladivostok free port was approved in March.
“Cancellation of visa procedures for tourists and businessmen will promote growth of investment and tourist attractiveness of the Far East,” Medvedev said.
Brunei Darussalam and Russia celebrated 25 years of diplomatic relations last year and has since then deepened relations in the political, economic and cultural areas.
In a message to mark the 25th anniversary last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored that both sides have accumulated significant experience of fruitful bilateral cooperation and expressed his confidence that based on the achieved results, Russia-Brunei ties will continue to strengthen in all fields. This, the President said, meets the fundamental interest of the peoples of our countries and is in line with the goal to ensuring stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region.
Vladlen Semivolos, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Brunei Darussalam shared last October that Brunei and Russia are negotiating on two important documents – the memorandum on mutual understanding between the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Education of Brunei Darussalam on cooperation in higher education and science as well as the inter-governmental visa waiver agreement.
“We are convinced that these documents will open up a new era in the bilateral student, academic and tourist exchanges and we look forward to their early signing,” he said.
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