Muscat – Russia has proposed a visa-free travel regime for Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, Maxim Reshetnikov, Russian Economic Development Minister, stated at the Eastern Economic Forum last week.

“We are exploring the topic of making the transition to visa-free travels,” Russian News Agency quoted Reshetnikov as saying.

He pointed out that Moscow is especially looking at countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and has already proposed scrapping visas for these five countries.

“This is where incremental growth of premium class tourists is possible in particular,” Reshetnikov added. “That’s why we are interested in it.”

In a bid to boost tourism, Oman has approved a list of 103 countries whose citizens can avail a visa-free entry to sultanate.

Among the major countries whose citizens can enter Oman visa free for 14 days are Russia, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Georgia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Belgium, Romania, Slovenia, Finland, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Cyprus, Ukraine, Spain, Czech Republic, Austria, Ireland, UK, Poland, Slovakia, France, Netherlands, Venezuela, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Thailand, South Africa, Russia, China, USA, Turkey, South Korea, New Zealand, Iran, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Canada, Malaysia and Singapore.