Belarus has abolished entry, exit and transit visas for the citizens of the State of Qatar. Qatar nationals will no longer need visas if they stay in Belarus up to 30 days and enter the country via international checkpoints. Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has signed relevant Decree No. 227 on 6 June, BelTA learnt from the presidential press service.

The Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Lithuanian parliament has approved the bill on ratifying the Belarusian-Lithuanian agreement on local border traffic.

Those Belarusians who wanted to spend this summer in Croatia will be disappointed. Information appeared last autumn that the citizens of our country will obtain the possibility to travel to Croatia without visas; however, nothing changed. The Movement For Freedom (MFF) as part of the No Visa! coalition attempted to find out why Belarusians still need visas to go to Croatia.

Belnaftakhim banned non-currency petrol sale to foreigners. "Pursuant to the authority of Belnaftakhim Chairman, provide under personal responsibility the implementation of fuel at border petrol stations to non-residents of the Republic of Belarus only for currency. There should be no fuel sale to cars with non-Belarusian numbers for Belarusian rubles," said in the group's provision.

Belarus will be represented at the World Travel Market 2011 international tourist exhibition, (WTM 2011) in London, head of the marketing department of the National Tourism Agency of Belarus Uladzimir Yankavenka informs.

Russian talks with the European Union over a visa-free regime are progressing, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov said today after meeting with his German and Polish counterparts Guido Westerwelle and Radoslaw Sikorski.

Ministerial consultations between foreign ministries of Belarus and Czech Republic on consular issues are held in Minsk on 12 May, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Belarus Andrei Savinykh told reporters. “The consultations will highlight a wide range of consular issues of mutual interest including the visa relations between the two countries,” Andrei Savinykh said.

Barring a few special cases, the Polish foreign ministry has explained that it will not issue gratis EU visas to people from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine keen to take part in a gay pride march in Warsaw in June. "The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not inform Warsaw sexual minority parade organisers that people from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine wishing to take part in the June march would temporarily be able to enter the EU for free," the ministry said in a letter to EUobserver on Thursday (12 May).

Belarus Watch VISA-FREE Photo Action
Within the framework of the VISA-FREE travel campaign "Go Europe, Go Belarus!", the photo action for the abolition of visa regime between Belarus and the EU has been launched on 7 May in Vilnius, Lithuania. The action is to be continued in other European cities as well.