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Poland backs liberalization of Azerbaijan-EU visa regime

6 March 2015 15:24 (UTC+04:00)
Poland backs liberalization of Azerbaijan-EU visa regime

By Nigar Orujova

Poland wishes for Azerbaijan to be a strategic partner of the EU formally and in practice, Polish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Marek Calka said on March 5.

"We will support the signing of certain documents in the future,” he said. “We think that this is in the strategic interests of Poland. We must wait for the greater liberalization of the visa regime."

The full liberalization of the visa regime with the EU countries will make a great contribution to the promotion of Azerbaijan in these countries.

"Azerbaijan has a rich history, culture and architecture,” the diplomat said. “It can charm any European tourist and bring a lot of money to the country. The country fully complies with European standards by its cultural and religious tolerance."

The more open is the country, the easier this country will be understood, he said. “And the country will present itself without advocacy at all state levels.”

“The liberalization of the visa regime will also open the country's market for Europe and increase the trade turnover,” the ambassador added.

As a new tourist destination, Azerbaijan is planning to facilitate visa issuing processes.

Since last September, the visa regime was simplified between Azerbaijan and the European Union. The agreements make it easier and cheaper for all Azerbaijanis and citizens of the EU, especially for those who travel a lot, to acquire short-stay visas.

A short-stay visa is a visa for an intended stay of no more than 90 days per period of 180 days.

Under the agreement, visa fees were reduced two-fold from 60 euro to 35 euro. Earlier, Hungary reported their decision to simplify visa issuance procedure for Azerbaijanis, by opening a visa center in Baku in the near future.

Moreover, Hungarian WizzAir airline will resume Baku-Budapest-Baku flights by late March in accordance with an intergovernmental agreement on air service.

This fact will also increase the tourist flow between Azerbaijan and the EU.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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