Kazakhstan and China to agree on visa-free group travel

Kazakhstan mulls signing an agreement on visa-free group travel with China, Tengrinews.kz reports citing deputy chairman of Tourism Commission of Kazakhstan Ministry of Industry and New Technologies Mukhit Saimassayev. “After the official visit of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev to China in April 2013 Kazakhstan is planning to declare 2017 a year of Chinese tourism in Kazakhstan. This initiative is included in the draft joint declaration of further development of strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and China to be signed by Presidents of both countries during the visit of Chinese President to Kazakhstan. The plan is to sign the agreement between the governments of the two countries on visa-free group travel,” Saimassayev said. The agreement is called to boost cooperation in tourism and increase a flow of tourists to Kazakhstan, he explained. Head of International Cooperation Department of Kazakhstan Ministry of Transport and Communications Adilkhan Abeuov added that charter flights from Kazakhstan to Sanya city in Hainan will be launched in September. “There are currently 32 regular flights per week between Kazakhstan and China. The plan is to bring this number to 35 flights per week by next year. New charter flights will be launched this September. It has been agreed that the flights will be made by both Kazakhstan and Chinese air companies,” Abeuov said. By Baubek Konyrov