MAYORS AGAINST NEW VISA REGIMES FOR ALBANIANS
National.
The Mayors of Ohrid and Struga, Aleksandar Petreski and Ramiz Merko demanded from the Macedonian Government to revise the decision for introduction of a new visa regime for the Albanian citizens, Makfax's correspondent reported.
Pursuant to the new regime, due to become operational as of 1 February, the Albanian citizens will be issued visas in the Macedonian Embassy in Tirana instead of at the border crossings.
The two Mayors share the opinion that this decision is premature and is bound to produce serious economic damages to the two municipalities.
"I think this is a wrong move. If nothing less, the government should delay the decision, like Bulgaria did when it joined the European Union," said Aleksandar Petreski, the Mayor of Ohrid.
According to the Mayor of Struga Ramiz Merko, the introduction of the new visa regime will have a great impact on the tourism activity in both municipalities, because the number of guests from Albania has been on the rise for some time back.
"We, as a Euro-Region, including Macedonia's municipalities of Struga, Ohrid, Resen, Bitola and Prilep, then Albania's Pogradec, Korcha and Bilishta and Greece's Lerin and Kostur, are demanding for cancellation of the visa regime among the three countries, instead of creating new barriers," Merko said.
MD: Ohrid and Struga region are very visited by Albanians. This decision would seriously damage the Ohrid and Struga municipality economy.
[Makfax]
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