Agreement on near-border movement with Lithuania has been signed

The agreement on the order of reciprocal trips of residents of near-border areas of Belarus and Lithuania has been signed within the frameworks of the visit to Minsk of the Lithuanian delegation headed by the president Dalia Grybauskaitė.

Head of Lithuanian Foreign Ministry Audronus Adzhubalis and Head of MFA of Belarus Siarhei Martynau have signed the document, BelaPAN reports.

“A window for Belarusian citizens was open today, - Grybauskaitė commented the signing the agreement. – People can freely move, go to EU countries. The long-term visa will cost 20 Euro for them”.

Foreign Ministry of Lithuania informed on the eve of the visit, that the agreement was planed to be signed already in September of 2009. “However, the Belarusian side made a request to postpone the signing of the document, as the procedure of interdepartmental coordination was not over in Belarus. Seven months later Minsk implemented new corrections to the earlier discussed text of the agreement”, - it was marked in the statement of MFA.

The agreement guaranties the right of residents of the near-border areas for visa-free border crossing and staying at the near-border territory of the other state with the special permissions at the distance up to 50 km from the border up to 90 days per year.