New York - After a bilateral agreement was signed on the sidelines of the 73rd UNGA meet.
Published: Tue 25 Sep 2018, 12:23 PM
Last updated: Tue 25 Sep 2018, 10:36 PM
The UAE has just signed another agreement for visa-free entry for its citizens.
Dr Anwar Gargash, the UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, signed an agreement with Luis Castiglioni, Foreign Minister of Paraguay, to that effect on Tuesday.
This was on the sidelines of the 73rd UN General Assembly meeting being held in New York. The UNGA high-level General Debate will start today and last for the next nine working days.
9th powerful rank
Earlier, on September 13, Gargash had tweeted, "Good morning to all my followers. The UAE passport has just been ranked as the 9th most powerful passport with visa-free entry to 157 countries world wide."
This new agreement could bring the total tally of visa-free entry to 158 countries, further bolstering the strength of the UAE passport.
A bilateral visa waiver agreement between the UAE and Russia earlier in July had seen the Emirati passport become the 10th most powerful in the world.
Bilateral agreements
Since June, the UAE has signed a number of agreements which pushed its passport ranking upward from 23rd place to 9th.
From July 1, citizens of the UAE were exempt from pre-entry visas to Barbados, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation had announced. Emiratis holding ordinary passports were able to travel to Brazil without a pre-entry visa starting from Sunday, June 3. UAE citizens were given an exemption allowing them to visit Canada without an entry visa starting from June 5. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between UAE and Barbados on June 2 in the United States which exempted UAE passport holders travelling to Barbados from obtaining pre-entry visas, with the possibility of staying for up to 90 days on each visit.
A number of agreements and memoranda of understanding between the UAE and Russia were signed, including the mutual exemption of visa requirements for citizens of the UAE and Russia in a bid to encourage bilateral tourism, investment and trade on July 8. As of July 26, UAE residents were able to avail of the tourist visa to Azerbaijan.
Earlier in the year, the UAE had gained visa-free access to China, Ireland, Burkina Faso, Uruguay, Guinea, Tonga, Benin, and Honduras.
Top 5 worldwide
In 2017, the UAE announced a daring goal of positioning the country's passport on the list of the five most important passports in the world by 2021.
"The UAE is a key strategic partner and lifting the visa requirement will help reaffirm the strong relationship between our two countries. It will also promote increased tourism, cultural, academic and study exchanges, as well as foster new business, trade, and investment opportunities," said Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Over the last decade, the UAE passport has seen immense growth in its global visa-free score and is amongst the list of nations that have experienced the fastest growth in the world. Having gained the trust and respect of over 35 countries in the past decade, UAE's passport power is slowly but surely reaching the summit.
"We have been working with the UAE authorities to monitor and help boost the power of their passport," said Armand Arton, president of Arton Capital. "I am delighted that our efforts are bearing fruit."
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