MINSK, 5 January (BelTA) – Belarus would be happy to welcome any steps from foreign partners to relax or abolish the visa requirements, spokesman for the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dmitry Mironchik told a press briefing on 5 January.
The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was asked whether Belarus expects the Schengen countries to reciprocate its decision to enforce new single rates of consular visa fees. “We are always ready to welcome any steps that meet our expectations with regard to the facilitation or abolition of the visa requirements. This time, it was Belarus who made a step forward. We have harmonized our standards. Therefore, we do not have any special expectations. More so, we have not set forth any time limits or conditions for anyone,” Dmitry Mironchik said.
As BelTA reported earlier, Belarus announced the new single rates of the consular fees for entry visas on 1 January 2017, in accordance with the new wording of Belarus' Tax Code. An individual visa is €60; a group visa (per person) costs €10.
Fees are discounted for nationals and some categories of residents of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Japan and Serbia. In particular, citizens of Japan and Serbia are exempted from the payment of consular fees in accordance with the bilateral agreements. Citizens of Poland and the Baltic states shall pay the consular fees at discounted rates, as it was before.
“This decision of the Belarusian side is another step to facilitate the entry of foreign nationals to Belarus, develop interpersonal, business and cultural ties, and bolster inbound tourism,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus said earlier.
