BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 27. Azerbaijan is holding talks with dozens of countries to simplify the visa regime, Head of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Emil Safarov, said at a public hearing on the topic "Current state and development prospects of tourism in Azerbaijan" in the Parliament's Labor and Social Policy Committee, Trend reports.
According to him, based on the proposal put forward by the State Tourism Agency, a project to introduce a unilateral visa-free regime is being implemented, and as of February 15, a temporary unilateral visa-free regime has come into force for four countries. These countries are mainly Arab states.
The official noted that the project is planned to be continued, and work is underway to add new countries to this list in the near future.
"The main goal is to introduce a visa-free or simplified regime in Azerbaijan's relations with friendly and strategic partner countries, to increase the flow of tourists without the risk of migration, and at the same time to ensure mutual interests".
Safarov recalled that recently the visa regime has been simplified with several countries.
"In this context, we can especially mention the mechanisms applied with the UAE, Qatar, China, Serbia, and Morocco. Negotiations are currently ongoing with dozens of countries. This process is carried out only with friendly and partner states, and both domestic and foreign policy interests, national security, and migration issues are taken into account here," the official explained.
Moreover, he recalled that within the framework of the simplified mechanism applied during the COP29, more than 36,000 people visited the country only for a specific international event.
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