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On 10 December at the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Seimas (Parliament of Lithuania), Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas presented plans to facilitate visa regime for neighbouring countries.

Minister indicated that the directions foreseen in the programme of the 15th Government of Lithuania – promotion of cooperation with neighbours and development of economic activities – are closely interconnected.

“Facilitation of visa regime for neighbouring countries will help Lithuania to cooperate closer in the areas of business, culture and tourism, and will promote direct people-to-people relations,” said Minister V.Ušackas.

Minister of Foreign Affairs V.Ušackas acquainted members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs with three major tasks.

The first one is to complete negotiations with Belarus and Russia and to sign agreements on local border traffic for residents of border areas. This will permit residents, who live at a 30-50 km distance from the border, to enter the border region of the neighbouring country without visas. However, special long-term permits shall be required instead of visas. These agreements will give greater freedom to the residents of neighbouring countries to visit Vilnius, Druskininkai and other border towns.

The second task is to benefit from the European Neighbourhood Policy in the East, which is currently being drafted, and to seek the approval of the EU Member States regarding the facilitation of visa regime for the residents of Belarus. Lithuania suggests the EU to lay down visa issuance conditions for Belarusian citizens in a way similar to those that have already been set in respective EU agreements with Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, and will be set down in the agreement with Georgia. Besides the facilitations of visa issuance to businessmen, participants of culture and sports events, and other groups of persons, these agreements foresee a reduction of consular fee from 60 to 35 euros for visas to all citizens.

The third task, according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, is to promote relations between residents of Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Region. As provided in the programme of the Government, possibilities to re-introduce a visa-free regime for residents of the Kaliningrad Region will be discussed. The first step towards this goal could be the issuance of free visas for the residents of the Kaliningrad Region of Russian Federation travelling to Lithuania and for the residents of the Republic of Lithuania visiting the Kaliningrad Region.