Argentina has become the sixth country from Latin America to remove visa requirements for Russian citizens to travel to their country. Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana signed the draft in the presence of Russia’s Ambassador to Argentina Yuri Korchagin at a function held in Buenos Aires. Argentina thus joins other countries from the region including Venezuela, Cuba, Peru, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.
The agreement will come into force only after the parliaments of both countries ratified it. The draft stipulates citizens of one country having valid passports will be able to get into the other country, leave it, fly through and stay in it without visas for less than 90 days during each period of 180 days starting from the date of the first entry. However, those who want to stay longer than 90 days or work in the other country must get a visa.
Taiana expressed satisfaction in signing the new deal as it would help traders from both nations to strengthen their business relations without going through any visa hassles. He pointed out that the visit of Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to Russia in last December had laid foundation to the new deal. Likewise, Korchagin stated that the document would improve possibilities of the citizens of both nations to frequently interact with one another.
According to sources, many other countries in the region including Brazil and Columbia are expected to sign similar deal with Russia in the coming days. Russia is encouraging like-minded countries to join the visa-free regime as a means to overcome global economic crisis. Russian foreign ministry is understood to push for the visa-free deal with the EU to leverage the closer to home advantage.