Moldovan Common Visa Centre to issue Swedish visas from April 1

Effective April 1, 2008, the Common Visa Application Centre hosted by the Hungarian Embassy in Chisinau will issue travel visas for Sweden to Moldovan citizens, Info-Prim Neo reports. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Hungarian Ambassador to Moldova Mihaly Bayer signed, on Thursday, February 28, the Agreement between the governments of Hungary and Sweden on the reciprocal representation of diplomatic and consular missions in processing visas and collecting biometric data. The Swedish Minister thanked the Hungarian Ambassador for the efforts made to facilitate the movement of citizens across the united Europe. “Sometimes we are bureaucrats; nevertheless we are trying to do our best to facilitate this process”, said Carl Bildt. Mihaly Bayer has mentioned that negotiations are under way with Cyprus and Norway for them to join the Chisinau-based Common Visa Application Centre. Inaugurated in April 2007, now the Centre issues visas for seven European countries: Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Hungary and Iceland. Since its inception, the Centre has received approximately 700 visa applications.