From The Moscow Times:
Investors Cheer Visa, WTO Progress
ST. PETERSBURG — In a significant easing of visa rules, U.S. and Russian citizens will soon be able to secure three-year multiple-entry visas and will not need to secure visa invitations, U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle said Thursday.
Beyrle’s announcement and buoyant optimism about Russia joining the World Trade Organization this year gave investors much to cheer about at the opening of the three-day St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Beyrle won spontaneous applause when he announced at a Russia-U.S. business session that the major travel liberalization between both countries was just three weeks away.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will sign an agreement giving tourists and business travelers from both countries the three-year multiple-entry visas “as a general rule,” Beyrle said.
He acknowledged that existing hassles for obtaining visas were “the most pervasive barriers” for business and said the liberalization would have “a huge impact on a more active economic relationship.”
He also promised that the agreement was just the start.
“Three years is just the first step,” he said.