Kuwait on Sunday agreed to issue visas to Pakistani families and businessmen after a decade-long suspension.
The Kuwaiti government gave the nod to issue visas in a meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah and Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed in Kuwait City.
Kuwait also agreed to issue technical visas for Pakistani workers in medical and oil fields.
The interior minister, who is on an official visit to Kuwait, handed over a special letter of Prime Minister Imran Khan to his Kuwaiti counterpart.
According to an interior ministry press release “Kuwait has decided immediate restoration of family and business visas for Pakistanis.”
Pakistani workers would also get visas according to an agreement, the press release added.
It said that the meeting, which was also attended by Kuwaiti Interior Minister Thamer Ali Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Kuwait Syed Sajjad Haider, discussed bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest.
Kuwait had stopped issuing visas to citizens of Pakistan, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan in 2011, “due to security situation in these countries.”
Pakistan made several attempts for restoration of visas without a success.
The ministry press release said that Pakistanis settled in Gulf countries could also get online visas to visit Kuwait.
The press release quoted the Kuwaiti prime minister as saying that relation between the two countries spanned over seven decades based on love and trust.
Sheikh Rasheed thanked the Kuwaiti prime minister and said that the decision would give job opportunities to Pakistanis.
He said that Pakistani families and business fraternity faced enormous problems due to the ban.
The minister said that Pakistani labourers played an important role in Kuwait’s early development.
He expressed the hope that after restoration of ban on business visa, trade would also increase between the two countries.
