President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko speaks for correcting the visa regime between Ukraine and the European Union. According to an UNIAN correspondent, he said this to a press conference on Wednesday.
Victor Yushchenko stressed that Ukraine was right to cancel the visa regime for EU citizens in 2005, because, since that time, the number of people who arrived in Ukraine grew by 2.7 times, which allowed the country to increase its profit, in particular, due to the inflow of tourists.
Victor Yushchenko stressed that, due to the growing inflow of tourists, Ukraine received more profit than the income of the Foreign Ministry from visa fees.
At the same time, the President noted that the visa regime should be modified. According to him, a part of EU countries embassies allowed intermediary structures to register visas for Ukrainian citizens, which increased their price. Victor Yushchenko stressed that Ukraine has many times informed European structures about that. The President noted he will continue supervising this problem, and hopes that a mutually beneficial solution will be found in the nearest time.
He also informed that, on June 4, Ukraine and EU will sign a plan of negotiations for transiting to a non-visa regime.
