Kazakhstan to cancel visa requirements with 47 countries

Azerbaijan, Baku, May 21 / Trend E. Kosolapova/ Kazakhstan plans to abolish visa requirements with about 47 countries for two weeks in summer period, Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas Omarov told Trend over phone on Monday. "We plan to introduce a two-week trial period of visa-free regime for citizens of developed countries," Omarov said. In particular, Kazakhstan will introduce visa-free regime for the citizens of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries, Omarov said. This organization unites developed, affluent countries of Europe, North America, Japan, Korea and some other countries in Southeast Asia. These measures will be taken to promote tourism development in Kazakhstan. However, the exact date of this program has not been determined yet, Foreign Ministry spokesman said. In 2011 the number of inbound tourists in Kazakhstan hit 5.6 million and the number of domestic tourists - over 5.3 million people. The volume of services rendered in tourism industry amounted to 74 billion tenge (over $500 million). Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az