At a press conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership between China and Ukraine, Chinese ambassador of Ukraine Fan Xianrong informed that both sides are actively working to sign an intergovernmental agreement on a visa-free regime between China and Ukraine.
The purpose of the visa-free regime
The visa-free regime aims to strengthen friendly relations between Ukraine and China.
The signing of such a document will create maximum travel convenience for citizens of the two countries and promote mutual understanding and mutually beneficial cooperation between states.
Many Ukrainian students, tourists and potential workers travel to China. Many of them often have big problems obtaining a Chinese visa. Same for the Chinese, who have a huge interest in Ukraine. A visa-free regime will allow starting the process of tourist and labor migration and unrestricted travel of citizens of both countries.
Development of tourism
Fan Xianrong also predicted that the flow of Chinese tourists to Ukraine would increase due to the visa-free regime.
In this context, he said that before the coronavirus pandemic, 150 million Chinese citizens traveled abroad in a year, of which only 60 thousand people visited Ukraine. According to the diplomat, such a difference in numbers indicates the presence of great potential for the development of mutual tourism.
The Chinese ambassador also noted that the idea of opening direct flights between Kyiv and Beijing is possible and already being discussed.
Visa-free travel to Ukraine for other countries
On July 21, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree establishing a visa-free regime for Australia, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia from August 1, 2020.
