Visa-Free Travel in the SCO Remains Uncertain

According to Nurlan Yermekbayev, the organisation’s secretary general, the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), including Uzbekistan, are not yet prepared to discuss the possibility of a visa-free regime.

«In terms of a visa-free regime across the entire organisation, the issue is not yet ready for consideration,» Yermekbayev stated in an interview with Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

However, he noted that liberalising visa regimes is one of the SCO’s objectives, and migration and tourism services are currently exploring this topic.

The SCO is an international organisation established in 2001 by the leaders of Uzbekistan, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Later, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus joined the organisation.

Kursiv Uzbekistan also reports that Uzbek citizens were permitted to visit China without a visa last year.