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Borys Kosarev: Modernist Kharkiv, 1915-1931 at The Ukrainian Museum thru May 2, 2012
Posted by Zoltan Bartalis on May 03, 2000 at 19:48:36:
In Reply to: Why Ukraine SHOULD have visa regime posted by oksana on May 03, 2000 at 09:22:58:
: There are a few caveats to this. First of all, since the break-up of the SU, travellers from the East have been pouring into the country. As part of the SU, Ukraine was always considered by the Soviet people as the "West" - it was, after all, the western-most republic.... So people from the even poorer former republics and other regions of the fSU, esp. the areas within Russia where fighting was/is taking place, were seeking either refuge or economic advantage by going to Ukraine.
Applying such a strict visa regime for ALL countries (or most of them, anyway Western ones too) is not a solution. Instead, the officialities should reconsider the necessity of visas for more developed countries, and make sure the border controls can cope with the "non-wanted" elements. Visas are not solving the corruption at the borders, they are making it worse.
: Secondly, there is no evidence that all foreigners, with or without money, travelling to Ukraine had Ukraine's best interests at heart. In order to benefit from the dollars of investment that may or may not flow into the country, the economic situation had to be understood and stabilized internally well enough to enable the kind of growth that everyone was promising. Remember that Ukraine wasn't even able to control the capital flight that was being generated from within by its very own domestic criminals such as Lazarenko.
: Thirdly, and this is probably the most important, visa agreements between are just that - bilateral agreements. The US, for example, has not opened its doors to Ukrainians, so why should Ukraine open its doors to Americans? This is the case with most Western countries. Why they should may seem obvious - unfortunately, its not that simple. And, in order to prevent additional strain on its economy, Ukraine must exercise caution about which countries it establishes bilateral agreements with.
: Clearly, there is an imbalance in the type of people who would be traveling between the Western countries and Ukraine. From Ukraine, it would be almost exclusively people searching for work and opportunities to earn some hard currency. Obviously, those going into Ukraine would be tourists (bringing dollars - the successful case of Prague and Czech Republic as a whole cannot be ignored) and to some degree, investors.
: On whose initiative the bilateral treaty is broached must depend on the country that benefits the most, in this case Ukraine. However, arguments can be made in favor of loosening restrictions on Ukrainians by the West - the humanitarian angle, the cheap labor (unions won't like this, but, hey). With less restrictive passage between the West and Ukraine, more Ukrainians will choose to return to Ukraine (as opposed to remaining in the West permanently) and invest in their dollars in their own country. In the long run, this will help change the movement of workers from East to West.