GCC Countries Unanimously Approves The Unified Gulf Tourist Visa (image @ Pixabay)The Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) have unanimously approved the Unified Gulf Tourist Visa. International tourists and residents of the Gulf countries will now will be able to travel between United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar with a single visa. The unified visa system is expected to come in to effect from 2024-25 across the GCC countries.
During the 40th meeting of the GCC interior ministers held at Oman’s capital Muscat, the Secretary General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, Jassim Mohammed Al Budaiwi announced the unanimous approval of the unified tourist visa. Mr. Budaiwi remarked the new unified visa to be a ‘testament to the close cooperation and wise directives of the GCC leaders.
Apart from the unified tourist visa, the meeting of interior ministers of the Gulf countries has also launched an electric system linking traffic violations across the GCC countries. Mr. Budaiwi called it as one of the initiatives introduced that will contribute in achieving safety goals in traffic.
“This achievement requires maintaining a high level of national security and ensuring the deterrence of any threats that could impede the region’s continued progress”, said the Secretary General, as quoted by Gulf News. He also added that the GCC countries was able to garner global and regional recognition for their efforts in development of the countries and ensuring the well-being of their citizens.
The ministers also introduced directions to combat. Mr. Budaiwi stressed about the need for adopting a collective action to address the influence of drugs among the young population of the region. He called for a unified step that would ensure the prevention, control and treatment of issues adhering to drugs.
Security issues in the country was another subject that was on the table for the meeting. Mr. Budaiwi also “stressed” on the need to keep in check the high level security to keep tight hold on the continued progress of the Gulf region and to prevent any sorts of threats from intervening.