Russia, UAE sign visa-free travel agreement

KAZAN, Jul 07 (TASS): Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have agreed to abandon entry visas for each other's nationals, a TASS correspondent reported on Friday.

A visa-free travel agreement was signed at a meeting of the intergovernmental commission in Kazan.

Following the signing ceremony, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said visa-free travel between the two countries will encourage business mobility and will help boost tourist flows.

"We already see a growing tourist flow from Russia to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It has more than doubled this year, with more than 750,000 Russian tourists visiting the UAE,” he said .

“Their contribution of the UAE's economy exceeded 2.3 billion US dollars. After the abandonment of entry visas, we expect tourist flow from that country to grow as well," he added.