Turkish and Russian nationals on Saturday started travel between the two countries without obtaining a visa.

Turkey and Russia signed an agreement on May 12, 2010 in Ankara to enable Turkish and Russian nationals travel without visa requirements. The agreement will take effect as of April 16, 2011. The visa-free period between Turkey and Russia is expected to have positive outcomes both in trade and contractor services as well as tourism.

Actual 26.2 billion USD foreign trade volumes between Turkey and Russia are expected to amount to 40 billion USD in one year after removal of visa procedures.

The implementation is also expected to make a significant rise in number of Turkish and Russian tourists.

Meanwhile, Turkish tourist entered Russia without visa and Russian passengers who entered without visa to Turkey said they enjoyed very much from this new visa regime.

The deal paves for 30 days of visa-free travel within a 90-day period.

New visa-free travel between Turkey and Russia begins; number of countries which do not impose visa procedures to Turkey will reach 58. Together with the autonomous regions, this number was stated as 64.

In May 2010, Turkey and Russia signed a visa liberalization agreement during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Ankara. Earlier this year, officials of the two countries signed a readmission agreement to take a step forward for completing procedures of visa-free regime.

[adrotate group=”10″]