Russia, RI step up shared visa-waiving deal

Russia is expected to agree visa-free facilities on a reciprocal basis for Indonesian citizens in a bid to ease people-to-people contacts, especially through the tourism sector, between the two countries, a senior official has said. “The visa-free negotiation is underway. We will consider several aspects including reciprocal principles, the advantages of such a facility and related security matters,” the Foreign Ministry’s acting director for Central and Eastern Europe, Ibnu Hadi, said as quoted by Antara in Kuta, Bali, on Sunday. He said Russia had already implemented a visa-free arrangement on a reciprocal basis with Thailand. “Why can’t they come to a similar arrangement with Indonesia?” he said. Hadi said Russia had great potential to become a major market for Indonesian tourism. According to Tourism Ministry official data, Russia is one of 20 countries with the highest numbers of tourists visiting Indonesia. However, the number of Russian nationals visiting Indonesia reached only 88,775 in 2014, down from 93,622 in the previous year. Hadi said among the causes of the decline were the absence of direct flights between Indonesia and Russia and the sluggish Russian economy, which led to the depreciation of the rubel against the US dollar. Chairul Nuku Hamka, the honorary Russian consul in Denpasar, said almost 72,000 Russian tourists visited the island in 2014. “On average, between 4,000 and 5,000 Russian tourists visit Bali per month,” he claimed. Russia is one of four countries, including China, Japan and South Korea, with which the government plans to reach a reciprocal visa-free arrangement in 2015. The plan is part of the government’s efforts to raise the number of foreign tourist arrivals to 20 million by 2019 - See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/22/russia-ri-step-shared-visa-waiving-deal.html#sthash.HoY1oM62.dpuf