The Philippines has waived the visa requirement for Russian tourists coming to the country for up to 21 days in a bid to capture the growing market of moneyed Russians who travel abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.
DFA spokesperson Claro Cristobal said the move was in keeping with the trend of extending visa-free entry to Russian tourists accorded by neighboring countries Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, among others.
Member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) don’t require visas of each other’s nationals for visits of up to 21 days.
“The Russians are now all over the world as tourists, especially in Japan, because of their pent-up desire to travel,” Cristobal said.
Unlike before when Russians had to secure an exit visa if they wanted to leave the then Soviet Union, Russians today are free to leave their country to go anywhere in the world without restrictions, Cristobal said.
He said the waiving of the visa requirement for Russians was recommended by the Department of Tourism which noted that the Russian economy grew by a dramatic 7 percent last year.
On the sidelines of the recent ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held in Manila, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo and Russian Federation Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said waiving the visa requirement would encourage more contacts and tourist exchanges between the two countries.
Romulo and Lavrov also welcomed the appointment of Armi Garcia as the honorary consul of the Russian Federation in Cebu City.
During their meeting, Romulo and Lavrov agreed to intensify bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade, energy, air transportation, education, tourism and sports, and in countering the threat of terrorism, trafficking in persons and other organized crimes.
They also signed an agreement on the conditions for mutual visits by holders of diplomatic and service (official) passports, which would facilitate greater contact between officials and diplomats of the two countries, and another agreement to counter the traffic in illegal drugs.
Both sides also agreed to intensify implementation of the memorandum of understanding between the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the DFA on issues related to the Cooperation in the Training of Diplomatic Personnel which was signed in 1998.
The Philippines and Russia celebrated 30 years of diplomatic relations in 2006.
Cristobal said that both countries recognized the constructive interaction between them in regional structures, such as the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, ARF and the Asia Cooperation Dialogue, particularly since the Philippines would continue to be the coordinator country of the Russian-ASEAN Dialogue Partnership.
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