Kirkenes pleased with visa deal
Oslo: The agreement on visa-free travelling in the borderlands between Norway and Russia will facilitate more cross-border contacts, the Mayor of the Sør-Varanger municipality says.
Mayor Linda Randal told BarentsObserver that the agreement signed in Oslo today is an important basis for more contacts across the border. –This will open up for more contact between Sør-Varanger and Pechenga, Randal maintains.
The town mayor was part of the Norwegian delegation in Tuesday’s meetings with Russian diplomats. The travel faciliation agreement was signed during the Northern Dimension ministerial meeting in Oslo
Read also:First opening in the Schengen-regime with Russia
The two municipalities with respectively 10000 and 45000 inhabitants are neighbors across the Norwegian-Russian border. The agreement will give a significant number of the locals the opportunity to cross the border without regular Schengen visas.
-This is a first step, Randal says. -Because what we really want is full-fledged visa-free travelling, she adds. She believes the agreement signed in Oslo today shows a high level of political will from both countries.
Also leader of the Kirkenes-based Norwegian Barents Secretariat Rune Rafaelsen is pleased with the agreement.
-This is politically important, because it makes a hole in the Schengen wall, he told BarentsObserver. At the same time he stresses that there is a long way left to go before smooth travelling conditions between the two counties are established.
-The next step now must be the facilitation of cross-border working conditions in the area, Rafaelsen stresses.
