Russia and India are set to conduct their first discussion on initiating a visa-free group tourist exchange in June, with plans to sign a bilateral agreement by the end of this year, Nikita Kondratyev, director of the Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation and Special Projects at Russia's Ministry of Economic Development, told Sputnik.
During the ongoing Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum 2024 in the Russian city of Kazan, Kondratyev announced that progress has been made in the realm of group visa-free trips and that the Indian delegations are in the final stages of internal state coordination, and will soon discuss a draft agreement.
"I think that in June we will hold the first consultations with them to discuss the draft agreement. We plan to sign by the end of the year", Kondratyev said.
The ministry announced in early February its plans to introduce visa-free tourist exchanges with India by 2024.
India is not the only country Russia has collaborated with for the visa-free tourist exchanges.
From August 1, 2023, Russia launched visa-free group tourist exchanges with China and Iran.