Uzbekistan and China are close to finalizing the visa-free travel agreement, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed.
The Ministry has said that both countries are in the process of finalizing internal procedures for the implementation of the agreement that would permit 30-day visa-free travel between Uzbekistan and China, VisaGuide.World reports.
The recent announcement ends claims by several reports that no negotiations in this regard are taking place between both territories.
Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to Gazeta.uz that both countries are in the process of finalizing the needed domestic procedures.
Afterward, a 30-day visa-free regime will come into effect.
Agreement Between Uzbekistan & China Signed in December 2024
The agreement to allow visa-free travel for up to 30 days between Uzbekistan and China was signed in December 2024 between both countries’ authorities.
The Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan, Bakhtiyor Saidov, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced the new changes on December 1, 2024.
As part of the implementation of the agreements reached between the Leaders of Uzbekistan and China, today together with my colleague we signed the Agreement that allows our citizens to travel without a visa for 30 days. It is another step towards making more intense exchanges and facilitating trade and people-to-people ties.
Announcing the decision, authorities in both countries said that the new changes would further strengthen bilateral relations, by facilitating trade, tourism as well as people-to-people exchanges.
In October 2023, the Chinese Embassy in Uzbekistan indicated a potential visa-free agreement between both territories.
Back then, Chinese Ambassador Yu Xiun expressed his country’s willingness to implement such a measure, emphasizing the need to further expert-level discussions as well as initial procedural simplifications before the implementation of a visa-free travel regime.
Citizens of China can travel to Uzbekistan without visas for up to ten days from March 2021. At the same time, China also expanded its visa-free policy. Last year, the country, added a total of nine countries to this list, or more specifically the following ones:
Slovakia, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, and South Korea.
It means that nationals from these countries can travel to China visa-free for stays of up to 15 days, until December 31, 2025.
Up to this point, China has permitted visa-free travel entry for nationals of a large number of countries.