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Russia to work on visa-free regime with all African countries — Russian Foreign Ministry

According to Oleg Ozerov, the point on developing or facilitating work, easing contacts with African countries, between citizens of Russia and African states is fixed in the action plan adopted at the second summit

MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/. Russia has visa-free agreements with six African countries and is working in this direction with other states of the continent as well, Oleg Ozerov, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry and head of the secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, told TASS.

"We have visa-free agreements with six countries, and there is certainly ongoing work with other states. Moreover, the point on developing or facilitating work, easing contacts with African countries, between citizens of Russia and African states is fixed in the action plan adopted at the second summit. So, naturally, we are not excluding any countries here," he said.

According to Ozerov, how fast such agreements are concluded is "a matter of negotiation."

Ozerov also recalled that Russia has an agreement on visa-free travel for holders of diplomatic service passports with 32 countries on the continent. "We are talking about the fact that this is a step-by-step process. It cannot happen one step at a time. And each case is a separate negotiation conducted with African countries," the diplomat explained.