BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 27. Azerbaijan is
holding talks with dozens of countries to simplify the visa regime,
Head of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Emil Safarov, said at a public hearing on the topic "Current state
and development prospects of tourism in Azerbaijan" in the
Parliament's Labor and Social Policy Committee, Trend reports.
According to him, based on the proposal put forward by the State
Tourism Agency, a project to introduce a unilateral visa-free
regime is being implemented, and as of February 15, a temporary
unilateral visa-free regime has come into force for four countries.
These countries are mainly Arab states.
The official noted that the project is planned to be continued,
and work is underway to add new countries to this list in the near
future.
"The main goal is to introduce a visa-free or simplified regime
in Azerbaijan's relations with friendly and strategic partner
countries, to increase the flow of tourists without the risk of
migration, and at the same time to ensure mutual interests".
Safarov recalled that recently the visa regime has been
simplified with several countries.
"In this context, we can especially mention the mechanisms
applied with the UAE, Qatar, China, Serbia, and Morocco.
Negotiations are currently ongoing with dozens of countries. This
process is carried out only with friendly and partner states, and
both domestic and foreign policy interests, national security, and
migration issues are taken into account here," the official
explained.
Moreover, he recalled that within the framework of the
simplified mechanism applied during the COP29, more than 36,000
people visited the country only for a specific international
event.
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