Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have signed a visa exemption agreement for holders of diplomatic and official passports, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced on Wednesday.
The agreement was one of three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) signed during the 12th session of the Pakistan-UAE Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC), which convened in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. The meeting was co-chaired by Dar and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
In a post on X, Dar confirmed the signing of MoUs covering visa exemption, cooperation in artificial intelligence and the digital economy, and a framework for joint investment promotion. “These agreements will pave the way for enhanced engagement to the mutual benefit of both nations,” he said.
The JMC session reviewed progress on bilateral cooperation and explored expanded collaboration in areas such as trade, investment, energy, infrastructure, and information technology. Both sides expressed the need to strengthen institutional coordination and promote inter-ministerial engagement to accelerate project execution.
The UAE remains one of the largest destinations for Pakistani migrant labour. As of 2024, 64,130 Pakistanis—roughly 9% of the total registered workforce—found employment in the UAE, according to data from the Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment (BE&OE) and the Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC).
Pakistan saw a total of 727,381 citizens migrate for work abroad last year, highlighting the continued outflow of skilled and unskilled labour as part of the country’s broader remittance-driven economic model.
The visa exemption deal is expected to facilitate easier official exchanges and diplomatic coordination between the two countries, which maintain close political and economic ties.
