EU votes to allow visa-free travel for UAE citizens
Friday, 7 March 2014 00:44
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The European Parliament last week voted to allow visa-free travel for UAE citizens to countries in the Schengen area in Europe which is made up of 26 countries.
Lawmakers carried the decision with a majority vote of 523 out of 577 EU representatives at a meeting in Strasbourg.
The EU’s endorsement of the visa waiver status for UAE citizens will start with the setting up of a joint working team of the UAE and EU, which will implement the decision as soon as possible, news agency WAM reported. The team will intensify its efforts to speed up the procedure of the implementation of decision as a prelude to the final announcement to allow UAE citizens visa free travel to Schengen Area, it added. Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, called the decision a “great achievement”, saying that the vote was the result of two years of “organised and relentless work” led by Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
