UAE, EU sign historic Schengen visa waiver agreement

(Brussels) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the European Union (EU) have signed a reciprocal bilateral short-stay visa waiver agreement exempting the UAE citizens from Schengen visa and making the UAE the first Arab country to receive such a visa waiver for its nationals.
Citizens of the United Arab Emirates who hold diplomatic, special, service and ordinary passports will be able to travel without a visa to 34 EU countries which make up the Schengen area for stays of up to 90 days (within any 180-day period of one year).
The UAE Ambassador to the EU, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg and Belgium, Sulaiman Hamid Al Mazroui, and the Permanent Representative of Latvia to the EU, Ilze Juhansone, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, signed the reciprocal bilateral short-stay visa waiver agreement in Brussels.
Assistant Foreign Minister for Legal Affairs, Abdul Rahim Yousef Al Awadhi; Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Mohammed Mir Al Raissi; Director of Consular Services at MoFA, Ambassador Ahmed Elham Al Dhaheri; Director of the Communications Department at MoFA Mariam Al Falasi; and members of the UAE Embassy in Brussels attended the signing ceremony.
Al Raissi extended greetings to the leadership and people of the UAE on “this historic achievement which demonstrates the respect the UAE enjoys in the international community and the close cooperation with the EU.”
He added that the exemption came as a success for the UAE diplomacy and as a result of the close follow up by Foreign Minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
(Courtesy WAM)