One step closer to visa-free travel
Russian and Norwegian authorities are working on an agreement that will make cross-border traveling easier for dwellers along the border between the two countries.
This means that the hope for visa-free travel for the two countries’ border zone inhabitants is one step closer to realization.
It was the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin himself who told about the progress on the border certificate issue at a joint press conference with Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Moscow on Tuesday, the Russian government writes on its web pages.
- I have noted the positive progress in our cross-border cooperation. In 2008 all restrictions on travel on the road between Murmansk and Kirkenes were removed, and we are now preparing an agreement on travel for inhabitants in the areas close to the border, Putin said.
- This concerns people in a 30 kilometer zone on both sides of the border, Prime Minister Stoltenberg told news paper Finnmarken.
According to Head of the Department of International Affairs by the Office of the Prime Minister Ingvard Havnen, Norwegian and Russian authorities agree on the principles for free travel for border zone inhabitants. He believes that the Schengen agreement is no obstacle for such an arrangement.
- The Schengen agreement opens for this kind of arrangement, Havnen said.
