MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. Russia is closest to abolishing visas with Myanmar, and similar negotiations are underway with Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia, Director of the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects of the Economic Development Ministry Nikita Kondratyev said on Tuesday.
"At the moment, yes," he said, answering a question about whether Russia is the closest to abolishing visas with Myanmar.
Draft agreements on the abolition of visas are being negotiated with overseas partners. The text is being decided upon. Each country implements its own corrections.
"The draft agreement with Myanmar was transferred to the Myanmar side and we are now awaiting the framework of the draft document from them, which we intend to sign at the Eastern Economic Forum <…> Myanmar's leadership has already assured that this document will be reviewed as soon as feasible," Kondratyev said adding that it takes two to three months on average from the signing of the agreement to the actual cancelation of visas.
Kondratyev said earlier on Tuesday that Egypt may be included in the list of countries whose citizens have access to an electronic visa to Russia in 2024. "Egypt is one of the priority [countries] that are currently being considered. Perhaps it will be included in the list of countries for an electronic visa by the end of the year,"he said.
Earlier, Head of the consular department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexey Klimov said that Russia intends to expand the list of countries whose citizens will be able to obtain Russian electronic visas. According to him, from August 1 to December 31, 2023, 170,000 unified electronic visas were issued to citizens of 55 foreign countries. Russia began issuing unified electronic visas to citizens of 55 foreign countries from August 1, 2023.