AGL 38.15 Decreased By ▼ -1.43 (-3.61%)
AIRLINK 125.07 Decreased By ▼ -6.15 (-4.69%)
BOP 6.85 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.59%)
CNERGY 4.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-5.52%)
DCL 7.91 Decreased By ▼ -0.53 (-6.28%)
DFML 37.34 Decreased By ▼ -4.13 (-9.96%)
DGKC 77.77 Decreased By ▼ -4.32 (-5.26%)
FCCL 30.58 Decreased By ▼ -2.52 (-7.61%)
FFBL 68.86 Decreased By ▼ -4.01 (-5.5%)
FFL 11.86 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-3.26%)
HUBC 104.50 Decreased By ▼ -6.24 (-5.63%)
HUMNL 13.49 Decreased By ▼ -1.02 (-7.03%)
KEL 4.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.54 (-10.4%)
KOSM 7.17 Decreased By ▼ -0.44 (-5.78%)
MLCF 36.44 Decreased By ▼ -2.46 (-6.32%)
NBP 65.92 Increased By ▲ 1.91 (2.98%)
OGDC 179.53 Decreased By ▼ -13.29 (-6.89%)
PAEL 24.43 Decreased By ▼ -1.25 (-4.87%)
PIBTL 7.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-2.59%)
PPL 143.70 Decreased By ▼ -10.37 (-6.73%)
PRL 24.32 Decreased By ▼ -1.51 (-5.85%)
PTC 16.40 Decreased By ▼ -1.41 (-7.92%)
SEARL 78.57 Decreased By ▼ -3.73 (-4.53%)
TELE 7.22 Decreased By ▼ -0.54 (-6.96%)
TOMCL 31.97 Decreased By ▼ -1.49 (-4.45%)
TPLP 8.13 Decreased By ▼ -0.36 (-4.24%)
TREET 16.13 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-2.95%)
TRG 54.66 Decreased By ▼ -2.74 (-4.77%)
UNITY 27.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.04%)
WTL 1.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-5.84%)
BR100 10,089 Decreased By -415.2 (-3.95%)
BR30 29,509 Decreased By -1717.6 (-5.5%)
KSE100 94,574 Decreased By -3505.6 (-3.57%)
KSE30 29,445 Decreased By -1113.9 (-3.65%)

China will allow transit passengers from 45 countries including the US, Canada and most members of the EU to spend up to 72 hours in Beijing without a visa from next month, city authorities said. The move would "strongly spur the development of the tourism industry, speed up building of an international city (and) expand contacts with the rest of the world," the Beijing Tourism Administration said on its website.
The policy only applies to travellers in transit to a third country, and not for return flights to the capital, whose attractions include the vast Forbidden City. Eligible nationalities include the United States, Canada, most European Union countries, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Korea, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
One noted omission was Norway which is embroiled in an ongoing spat with China over the naming of jailed political dissident Liu Xiaobo as the winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. It was not clear if Liu's Nobel prize was the reason behind the omission of Norway from the new visa policy.
The tourist administration was not immediately available for comment on the matter. According to their announcement, Beijing will "starting on January 1, 2013, implement a policy allowing foreigners from 45 countries with visas and plane tickets to a third country to transit through Beijing for 72 hours without a visa." But travellers would "face punishment" if they left the capital and lawbreakers would be banned for life, Gao Huada, deputy director of the city's exit-entry bureau, was quoted in the China Daily as saying on Thursday. China's financial hub Shanghai already allows some foreigners in transit to visit the city for 48 hours, its government says on its website, including those from the US, some European countries, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012

Comments

Comments are closed.