UAE, Pakistan Sign Visa Exemption Agreement For Some Passport Holders

The UAE and Pakistan have signed a visa exemption agreement for diplomatic and official passports, said Ishaq Dar, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of Pakistan.

The announcement was made following the 12th session of Pakistan-UAE Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

The UAE is home to one of the largest number of foreign workers, housing over 1.7 million Pakistanis. Official figures revealed earlier showed more than 64,000 Pakistanis securing jobs in the UAE last year.

Dar said JMC is“an important step in further deepening strategic, economic, and development cooperation between our two brotherly countries. We reviewed progress in trade, investment, energy, infrastructure, and IT.”

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“Three important MoUs were signed: Visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders; Cooperation in AI & the digital economy; and joint investment promotion, which will pave the way for enhanced engagement to the mutual benefit of both nations,” Dar said in a statement on social media platform X.

The 12th session of JMC held in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday was co-chaired by Ishaq Dar and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of the UAE.

Prior to the formal proceedings, a working group meeting of the JMC was held under Tariq Bajwa, special assistant to the prime minister of Pakistan, and Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Minister of State of the UAE.

The JMC reviewed the full scope of bilateral relations and agreed on concrete measures to strengthen cooperation in trade, banking, culture, investment, aviation, railways, energy, food security, climate change, defence, healthcare, manpower, higher education and information technology.

Both sides emphasised enhancing institutional mechanisms and promoting inter-ministerial coordination.

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