Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Kravchenko expressed hope during phone talks with Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs of the European External Action Service that the EU will notify Minsk about ratifying the Belarus-EU agreements on visa facilitation and readmission by the end of May
MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2020) Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Kravchenko expressed hope during phone talks with Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs of the European External Action Service that the EU will notify Minsk about ratifying the Belarus-EU agreements on visa facilitation and readmission by the end of May.
The Council of the European Union on Wednesday adopted two decisions to conclude a visa facilitation agreement and a readmission agreement with Belarus, which were approved by the European Parliament earlier in May. Belarus completed internal procedures for the ratification of the documents in April, while Minsk and Brussels have been negotiating draft agreements since 2014.
"Kravchenko welcomed the approval of Belarus � EU Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements by the EU Council and expressed hope that the relevant EU notification will be received before the end of May 2020, in which case the two agreements could come into effect on July 1, 2020," the statement read.
According to the statement, the parties also discussed "future joint Belarus - EU activities in the bilateral format and in the framework of the Eastern Partnership."
In accordance with the visa facilitation agreement, the cost of processing visa applications for Belarusian citizens has been reduced to 35 Euros ($38.7) with an application processing period of ten days. At the same time, there is the possibility of issuing visas on an urgent basis.
The visa facilitation agreement comes into force along with a readmission agreement, which provides for mutual obligations to accept citizens and certain categories of third-country citizens who no longer meet the criteria for legal stay.
