| Turkey and Russia signed an agreement on May 12, 2010 in Ankara to enable Turkish and Russian nationals travel without visa requirements. The agreement will take effect as of April 16, 2011.
The visa-free period between Turkey and Russia is expected to have positive outcomes both in trade and contractor services as well as tourism.
Actual 26.2 billion USD foreign trade volume between Turkey and Russia is expected to amount to 40 billion USD in one year after removal of visa procedures.
The implementation is also expected to make a significant rise in number of Turkish and Russian tourists.
The deal paves the for 30 days of visa-free travel within a 90-day period.
Mehmet Büyükekşi, President of Turkish Exporters' Assembly (TIM), wished this historic step with Russia to be an example to other EU countries. He said EU member countries should remove visa regime towards Turkey.
Büyükekşi told the Anatolia news agency that Russia was the second biggest trade partner of Turkey. He said Russia was considered as target market by all exporter sectors in strategy for the year 2023.
After visa-free travel between Turkey and Russia begins, number of countries which do not impose visa procedures to Turkey will reach 58. Together with the autonomous regions, this number was stated as 64.
In May 2010, Turkey and Russia signed a visa liberalization agreement during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Ankara. Earlier this year, officials of the two countries signed a readmission agreement to take a step forward for completing procedures of visa-free regime. |
