Argentina has signed an agreement with Russia on visa-free travels for citizens of the two countries. The document was signed here on Wednesday by Argentinean Foreign Minister Jorge Enrique Taiana in the presence of Russia’s Ambassador to Argentina Yuri Korchagin.

The agreement is now to be signed by the Russian side, and it will come into effect after being ratified by the two countries. Citizens of one country having valid passports will be able to get into the other country, leave it, fly through and stay in it without visas for no more than 90 days during each period of 180 days starting from the date of the first entry.

Those who want to stay longer than 90 days or work in the other country must get a visa. According to Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana, the agreement testifies to a bid and readiness of the two countries to develop bilateral relations.

“A lot of steps in that direction were made during an official visit to Russia last December by Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner,” he said. According to the top diplomat, the agreement on visa-free travels will become a new “practical step that will contribute to the strengthening of contacts between entrepreneurs of the two countries, to the development of tourism and an expansion of cultural exchanges”.

The Russian ambassador, for his part, told Tass that the document signed on Wednesday is “an agreement of a new generation,” which will make it possible to visibly boost contacts between the citizens of the two countries.