Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.30
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
The government of Azerbaijan has started preparations for signing of the visa facilitation agreement and readmission with Switzerland and Norway, Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev told Trend on Sept.29.
"The negotiations with Switzerland and Norway on visa facilitation and readmission have already been completed. Now, we are preparing for signing of the agreement," he said.
Talking about the date of signing, Mammadguliyev said that first of all, it is necessary to be empowered to sign these agreements and implement other intrastate procedures.
"The facilitated visa regime with Switzerland and Norway, which are part of the Schengen area, will correspond to the terms of the agreement with EU," the deputy minister said.
Azerbaijan and the European Union signed a visa facilitation agreement during the summit of members of the EU Eastern Partnership program in Vilnius on Nov.29, 2013. The readmission agreement with EU was signed on Feb.28, 2014. The new agreement doesn't cover such EU countries as Denmark, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which joined the Schengen area.
The agreements with the EU countries entered into force on Sept.1, 2014.
The visa facilitation agreement will facilitate the travel of Azerbaijani citizens to the Schengen zone countries and the EU citizens to Azerbaijan.
Additionally, this agreement will contribute to the development of relations between the EU and Azerbaijani citizens. It will cover an extensive list of persons. First of all, they are the citizens traveling abroad for education and business.
Under the agreement, the procedure of acquiring short-stay visas, which allow to freely leave and enter the territory of the majority of EU countries will be easier and cheaper for the Azerbaijani citizens, especially for those who travel a lot.
Short-stay visa allows to stay in EU countries for no longer than 90 days per period of 180 days. Under the agreement, visa fees have been reduced from €60 to €35, and some categories of citizens are to be exempt from the fees altogether.
For some categories of frequent travellers and under certain conditions, member states are supposed to issue multiple-entry visas with a validity from one to up to five years.
Holders of diplomatic passports are exempted from the visa obligation. The agreement also provides that the visa handling fee will not be collected for certain categories of applicants, including members of official delegations, children below the age of 12, pensioners, researchers and students. Implementation of the provisions of the agreement is subject to application of full reciprocity by all parties of the agreements.
Readmission agreements set out clear obligations and procedures for the authorities of EU member states and Azerbaijan. They regulate when and how to take back people who are illegally residing on the territories of the parties. They cover not only the illegally staying nationals of both parties but also third country nationals and stateless persons being in an irregular situation provided they have a clear link with the requested party (e.g. visa or resident permit).
Full respect of Human Rights as provided by the European Convention of Human Rights is guaranteed during the application of readmission agreements.
To date, the EU has signed visa facilitation and readmission agreements with 12 countries, namely, Azerbaijan, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Georgia, the Republic of Cabo Verde and Armenia. All the agreements, excluding the agreement with Cabo Verde, have already entered into force.
