Easing of visa norms to top Putin’s agend
Easing of the Russian visa regime, particularly for Indian businessmen keen to tap investment opportunities in Russia, is likely to figure high on the agenda of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit starting Thursday.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: Easing of the Russian visa regime, particularly for Indian businessmen keen to tap investment opportunities in Russia, is likely to figure high on the agenda of Russian President Vladimir Putin���s visit starting Thursday.
The changes being sought by New Delhi propose to make the issue of visas a reciprocal affair, besides laying down the parameters within which a visa application can be either accepted or rejected. According to sources in the government, this will now be purely on the basis of ���documentation and validation���.
For instance, rather than inquiring into the credentials of the Indian businessman seeking a visa, the Russian authorities are being requested to rely on the antecedents of either their Russian sponsors or partners in a bid to cut down any procedural delays.
Indian corporates have been blaming the lengthy and cumbersome procedures for acquiring a Russian business visa ��� they got a taste of this non-friendly regime when top industrialists Anand Mahindra and Anil Ambani were denied visas in 2005 for holding a business meeting in St Petersburg, forcing the Indian ambassador in Moscow, Kanwal Sibal, to intervene and offer a personal guarantee before the two were allowed a visa ��� for the slow growth in bilateral trade.
Though India had, during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh���s visit to Russia in December 2005, taken up this issue with Moscow, no agreement was reached regarding expediting visas for Indian businessmen. Moscow is said to have insisted on signing a Treaty of Re-Admission with India before inking the visa agreement.
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The Treaty of Re-admission makes it obligatory on the signatories to re-admit their citizens found staying illegally in the other country. Till date, a security clearance from Russian interior ministry authorities is necessary for each visa application from India. Given the practical difficulties and inevitable delays in verification of credentials of the visa applicant, an Indian businessman has to wait at least a month to know the status of his request. The target of the Indian authorities is to get the other side to cut down this processing time to less than a week.
Leading corporates and business chambers hope that Mr Putin���s visit will finally address this inequality in the Indo-Russian visa regime ��� India is far more liberal in granting visas for Russians, both for business and otherwise.
The business leaders here, who will be getting an audience with Mr Putin during his visit, are aiming to triple bilateral trade between the two countries from the current $3 billion to $10 billion. Given the immense investment potential in Russia, in sectors as diverse as energy, information technology and pharmaceuticals, this target is seen as highly achievable, provided the visa regime problems are sorted out.
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