OREANDA-NEWS. January 24, 2008. Belarus unilaterally made visas for citizens of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland cheaper, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Belarus Andrei Popov told a briefing on January 24.

A single entry visa will cost ?25 for the citizens of the abovementioned countries, a single transit visa – ?10 and a multiple entry visa for a year – ?150. Additional ?25 will be charged for the simplified visa issue procedures.

Citizens of Belgium, Slovakia and the Czech Republic will have to pay ?60 for a single entry visa, ?20 – for a single transit visa and ?150 for a multiple entry visa. The cost of visas for the citizens of the “old members” of the Schengen zone was not changed.

Belarus preserves simplified visa issue procedures for citizens of the whole Schengen zone. As before, business and guest visas, which term of validity is 30 days, will be issued without invitation; the term of consideration of an inquiry should not exceed 5 days.

According to the spokesman, the Foreign Ministry again confirms its readiness to conduct a dialogue with the EU relating to the simplification of visa procedures. “We urge our European partners to stop using visas as an instrument of restricting mutual contacts and to take necessary measures aimed at ensuring the right of citizens to free movement,” Andrei Popov underlined.