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UAE activates visa waiver for Pakistani diplomatic, official passport holders

UAE activates visa waiver for Pakistani diplomatic, official passport holders
A woman holds her passport while sitting in a waiting room before boarding on a Pakistan International Airlines plane, the first commercial international flight to land since the Taliban retook power last month, at the airport in Kabul on September 13, 2021. (AFP)
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Updated 27 July 2025

UAE activates visa waiver for Pakistani diplomatic, official passport holders

UAE activates visa waiver for Pakistani diplomatic, official passport holders
  • Pakistan, UAE signed agreement on mutual visa exemption for diplomatic, official passport holders of both countries in June
  • Islamabad considers the UAE a vital economic ally as it is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States

ISLAMABAD: The UAE this week activated its visa waiver for holders of Pakistani diplomatic and official passports as per an agreement signed between the two countries last month, the Gulf state’s embassy in Islamabad said on Sunday. 

Pakistan and the UAE signed an agreement on mutual visa exemption for the holders of diplomatic and official passports of the two countries on June 25. The agreement was signed at the conclusion of the 12th session of the Pakistan-UAE Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in Abu Dhabi, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar had said. 

“His Excellency Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salim AlZaabi, the ambassador of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates Islamabad feels immense pleasure to announce that the visa waiver for diplomatic and official passports entering the United Arab Emirates has been activated, effective July 25, 2025, at all UAE airports,” the UAE embassy in Islamabad said in a message to reporters. 

The two countries discussed collaborations in trade, investment, food security, aviation, IT and energy at the 12th JMC last month, Pakistan’s state broadcaster reported. 

Islamabad considers the UAE a vital economic ally as it is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States.

Bilateral trade between the two nations reached approximately $10.9 billion in fiscal 2023–24, including $8.41 billion in goods and $2.56 billion in services. Exports from Pakistan to the UAE were around $2.1 billion in FY25, compared to $8 billion in imports.

The UAE is also a major source of remittances. In 2024, money sent home by the Pakistani diaspora was $6.7 billion, which is projected to exceed $7 billion in 2025.


UN disarmament panel passes Pakistan-led resolutions on arms control, nuclear security

UN disarmament panel passes Pakistan-led resolutions on arms control, nuclear security
Updated 08 November 2025

UN disarmament panel passes Pakistan-led resolutions on arms control, nuclear security

UN disarmament panel passes Pakistan-led resolutions on arms control, nuclear security
  • Two other Pakistani resolutions stress confidence-building measures, security assurances to non-nuclear states
  • Move follows brief but intense May conflict between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India that left around 70 dead

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security adopted four resolutions sponsored by Pakistan on Saturday, including measures on regional disarmament, confidence-building and nuclear security assurances, said an official statement.

The adoption comes against the backdrop of Pakistan’s recent conflict with India, during which the two nuclear-armed states fought a brief but intense war in May that killed around 70 people on both sides and raised global concerns about escalation in the region.

Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations said in a statement that the committee unanimously adopted two of its resolutions entitled “Regional disarmament” and “Confidence-building measures in the regional and sub-regional contexts.”

The other two resolutions entitled “Conclusion of effective international arrangements to assure non‑nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons” and “Conventional arms control at the regional and subregional levels” were adopted with an overwhelming majority of the member states.

“Pakistan has, for decades, led initiatives in the United Nations to advance priority issues of nuclear disarmament, regional disarmament, conventional arms control and confidence-building measures,” the statement said.

“The adoption of these resolutions reaffirms the importance of the international community’s priority on ‘negative security assurances’ as well as embracing regional approaches to disarmament and arms control,” it added, referring to pledges made by nuclear-armed states not to use or threaten nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries.

Pakistan’s call for stronger confidence-building measures comes months after its own conflict with India, which prompted one of its top military commanders, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, to warn that the recent hostilities had increased the risk of future escalation.

He said during an interview in Singapore that international mediation might prove difficult next time, highlighting the absence of crisis management mechanisms between the two countries.

Procedurally, First Committee resolutions are forwarded to the full UN General Assembly for formal adoption in the coming sessions.