ISLAMABAD – Sultan Al-Mansoori, minister of economy of the United ArabEmirates, announced that coordination is under way between Saudi Arabia andthe UAE to issue a joint visa between the two countries so as to enablevisitors to the UAE to visit Saudi Arabia and vice versa.
The new visa is expected to come into force in 2020. “This initiative aimsat taking advantage of the enormous potential and great measures taken bySaudi Arabia to facilitate the entry of tourists to the Kingdom,” SaudiGazette quoted him as saying.
Mansoori said this is among the initiatives that have been developed andapproved by the concerned authorities.
“Officials from UAE and Saudi Arabia are currently holding joint meetingsto work out the regulations for implementing this initiative,” he said.
He pointed out that the initiative would contribute to increasing thevolume of flight services between the two countries. The number of flightsat present is not sufficient and we need to double it.
According to Al-Mansoori, the implementation of the initiative will benefitnational companies in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and will give much strongerimpetus to cooperation and coordination between them. It will alsorevitalize the tourism sector as well as airports and hotels.
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The minister said that this is one of the main initiatives that are beingfocused at present, in view of the keenness and directives of theleadership of both the countries on the tourism sector as well as on theincrease in the proportion of its contribution to the gross nationalproduct (GNP) of the two countries.
Addressing the Future Investment Initiative session, Al Mansoori stressedthe existing full coordination between the UAE and the Kingdom in varioussectors, including the economy and investment.
“The FII is an important conference, and the extent of benefit would notonly be at the level of Saudi Arabia, but also at the level of the regionas a whole, including the UAE,” he added.
