BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

08/04/2008

Lithuania asks EU to ease up visa issuance rules for Belarussians

VILNIUS, April 8 (Itar-Tass) - Lithuania is trying to obtain permission from the European parliament for easing up the regulations for the issuance of travel visas to citizens of neighbouring.

This was one of the issues that Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitekunas discussed Tuesday at the talks with the chief of the European Parliament's commission for communications with Belarus, Jacek Protasiewicz, the Foreign Ministry's press service said.

The parties to the talks stated the importance of reducing the fees for the EU's Schengen visas for ordinary Belarussians so that they could travel to EU countries.

Lithuania tried to negotiate discounted consulate fees for travel visas issued to Belarussians while it was still standing in line for joining Schengen free travel zone agreement, but its attempts turned out to be futile.

As a result, the cost of the entry visa has gone up by a factor of twelve since the beginning of the year, and now Belarussians planning a trip to the neighbouring country have to pay 60 euros versus the 5 euros they paid previously.

This hike has practically halted tourist exchanges between the two countries.

In 2007, more than 500,000 Belarussians visited Lithuania as tourists.

Source:

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12561167&PageNum=0

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