GUYANA and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) early this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing mutual visa-free travel between the nations.

This is according to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) mission to the United Nations via a social media post on ‘X’, formerly Twitter, that stated that the UAE’s Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Al Hashimy met with President Dr. Irfaan Ali to sign the MoU.
The post noted that the agreement was signed on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly being held in New York City.

It added that the MoU establishes “mutual exemption of entry visa requirements between the two countries”.
Guyana and the UAE have maintained bilateral ties since 1995. Last year, on the sidelines of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, both countries agreed to extend cooperation in key areas, including food security, energy technology, capacity building and cultural and social exchanges.

At the time, the two sides also agreed to fortify their bilateral partnership across a wide range of areas concerning socio-economic and cultural development.
The two sides had also agreed to open a UAE embassy headquarters in the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, embodying the countries’ respective ambition to reinforce their bilateral relations which will serve their mutual interests and development goals.
Over the past few years, there have been several high-level visits between the two nations, as opportunities to strengthen and enhance diplomatic relations including the visit by His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Guyana on September 30, 2023, and the visit of Al Hashimy to Guyana on June 11, 2023.