Three days processing of visa-applications is history. “Always apply at least 15 days prior to scheduled departure. Our processing time is 10 days,” says Marit Egholm Jacobsen, head of the visa section at Norway’s Consulate General in Murmansk.
Norway is urgently expanding its border station to Russia to meet booming traffic. The new constructions will however soon be demolished to clear the way for a brand new border station.
MURMANSK: Elena Goncharuk is servicing one of the 13 counters at Norway’s new visa center in Murmansk where customers are guaranteed to have their paperwork done in less than 15 minutes.
ARKHANGELSK: Norway’s Honorary Consul Andrey Shalyov has busy days as the number of cross-border travelers from the White Sea region beat all previous records.
The Finnish Border Guard says it’s concerned about the security along the eastern border with Russia, as budgetary cutbacks have caused a 40 percent drop in patrols in recent years.
Russia and the EU have agreed to allocate a total of 600 million EUR to cross-border project cooperation. The sum, half of which is provided by the Russian side, could open a new era in project cooperation between the two sides.
The agreement and implementation of the programmes for cross-border cooperation between EU’s northern member states and Russia’s north western regions will be on the agenda when President Dmitri Medvedev today meets the EU leadership in Stockholm.
Despite the challenges and political controversy of their presence, conscripts in the Norwegian border guard service say it is the best assignment to take on as a young soldier.
