Russia ready to lift visa requirements for Zambia - upper house speaker

LUSAKA, February 18. /TASS/. Russia is ready to remove visa requirements for citizens of Zambia, Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Speaker Valentina Matviyenko told reporters during her visit to the African country. "During the Russia-Africa summit an intergovernmental agreement was signed on visa-free travel for holders of diplomatic passports and I hope we will soon ratify it. But I offered that Russia was ready to switch to visa-free travel for holders of ordinary passports," Matviyenko said on Tuesday. Zambian President Edgar Lungu showed interest in this idea and said he would order respective ministries and agencies to discuss this issue, the upper house speaker noted. On October 23-24, 2019, the Black Sea resort city of Sochi hosted the first ever Russia-Africa Summit, co-chaired by Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt. All 54 African countries participated in the event, 43 of which were represented by heads of state. Eight major African integration associations and organizations were also involved in the event. The final declaration confirmed the agreement to counter terrorism and biological threats, jointly work on enhancing security, nuclear non-proliferation and reforming the UN Security Council. At the summit and the forum the sides signed 92 contracts to the tune of over 1 trln rubles ($15.8 bln). Read more