More and more Belarusians are trying to get a Schengen visa
From Belarus without visas
Work to simplify the visa regime with foreign states is carried out in Belarus on a permanent basis: concluding new bilateral agreements, updating outdated treaties, negotiations on visa facilitation within international organizations and interstate formations, as well as unilaterally, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry told DW.
Thus, visa-free travel with most countries of the former USSR was established on the basis of international treaties within the CIS in 1992 – with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan. With the last four, also within the EurAsEC in 2000. Bilateral agreements on visa-free travel have also been signed with Armenia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Ukraine.
Belarus first signed agreements on visa-free travel with Mongolia and Serbia under the USSR – in 1979 and 1989 respectively, and renegotiated them in 2013 and 1999. With Macedonia, the agreement on visa-free travel had been in effect since the republic was still part of Yugoslavia; a new agreement was signed in 2001. Also, agreements on visa-free travel were concluded with Cuba, Bolivia, and Montenegro in 1997, 2007, and 2009 respectively. The most recent agreement – with Turkey – came into force on June 1, 2014.
Simplified entry procedure
In addition, visa-free travel for Belarusians applies (for different countries under certain conditions, for example, for tourists or participation in business negotiations) with Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Panama – since 2009, Malaysia – since 1998, Peru – since 2003. Moreover, a number of agreements have been concluded which, although they do not completely abolish the visa regime, are aimed at simplifying the terms of mutual travel of citizens, as stressed by the Foreign Ministry – with China (1993), Latvia (2008 – on mutual travel of citizens, 2010 – on simplified procedure for mutual travel of residents of border areas), Lithuania (2007), Poland (2007), Turkmenistan (1999).
The list of countries with which negotiations on visa facilitation or abolition are currently underway includes almost a dozen and a half states, including the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.
When asked what guides the Foreign Ministry in initiating negotiations on visa facilitation or abolition with this or that country, the Foreign Ministry press service suggested referring to an interview with the head of the foreign policy department Vladimir Makei published on the ministry's website. From what the diplomat said, it follows that the main task is 'to create normal conditions for doing business in Belarus with those countries that are of interest to us, and to ensure Belarusians freedom of movement to those countries that are of interest to us.'
What is interesting to Belarusians?
Currently, Belarusians mostly travel for vacation to Turkey and Montenegro, said in an interview with DW the executive director of the Union of Tourist Organizations of Belarus, Valentin Tsekhmeister. However, based on official statistics, says expert of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS) and author of a number of studies on visa issues Andrei Yeliseyev, the majority of Belarusians travel without the services of tour operators, and they go not to Turkey, Egypt, or Bulgaria, but to Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania. These, in his words, are the most popular tourist destinations.
As for Honduras or Panama, visa-free entry there interests a small number of VIP tourists, of whom there are still few in Belarus, Tsekhmeister notes. But, in Yeliseyev's words, 'beggars can't be choosers', and concluding agreements with exotic countries are 'small pluses of Belarusian diplomacy against a big minus: negotiations on visa facilitation with the EU actually began only in 2014,' the expert states.
As Tsekhmeister noted, most of all Belarusians are waiting for an agreement on visa facilitation or abolition with the Schengen countries, and the demand for tours to Europe is steadily growing. 'My phone is constantly ringing, people ask for help getting a Schengen visa,' lamented the head of the Union of Tourist Organizations.
Are the interests of the tourism business left out?
Indeed, the interest of Belarusians in traveling to EU countries is growing. As DW was told in the EU Delegation to Belarus, over the past five years the number of Belarusians applying for a Schengen visa has almost doubled: if in 2009 consulates received just under 369 thousand applications, then in 2013 – more than 777 thousand.
However, as for progress in visa relations with the EU or the launch of local border traffic with neighboring countries, this is hardly dependent on Belarusian diplomats, Yeliseyev believes. Decisions of this level, in his opinion, are made not in the Foreign Ministry, but at least in the presidential administration; it is a matter for the highest political leadership of the country.
Meanwhile, as the Union of Tourist Organizations of Belarus believes, negotiations with Schengen countries should be a priority in the Foreign Ministry's activities on visa facilitation and abolition. The state should first of all take care of inbound tourism, the development of which is directly linked to the abolition of visa regimes, sums up the head of the Union.
Elena DANEYKO,
Deutsche Welle