ISLAMABAD
UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan on Sunday inaugurated a new visa centre in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and UAE Consul-General in Karachi Dr Salem Al-Khaddeim Al-Dhanhani attended the inauguration ceremony of the new “modernised” visa centre in Pakistan’s largest megapolis and commercial hub. Several senior officials of the Sindh government, business persons and media personnel were also present on the occasion.
Addressing the attendees, Al-Dhanhani commended the “solid historic relations between the UAE and Pakistan since the era of the founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan,” the WAM report read.
“The visa centre, one of the largest in Asia, will provide distinguished consular services in line with the latest international standards,” he was quoted as saying.
The centre comes as part of the framework to provide all administrative services aimed at improving the level of customer service and issuing visas to facilitate the entry of Pakistanis into the UAE through electronic gates at the ports, according to the UAE consul-general.
More than 1.6 million Pakistani expatriates live in the UAE and work in different public and private sectors, who remit over $4 billion to Pakistan annually.
With the inauguration of a modernized visa center in Karachi, Pakistan and the UAE have laid “strong foundations of bilateral relations, friendship and cooperation over the years,” Governor Ismail said on Twitter.
