The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has assured that authorities will embark on public education to address the misconceptions surrounding its Mutual Exemption of Entry Visa Requirements for holders of certain categories of passports.
It was recently announced that Parliamentary has ratified the agreement for the Mutual Exemption of Entry Visa Requirements for holders of certain categories of passports signed between Ghana and the UAE.
But during a video call with the Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Shakhboot Bin Nahyan Al Nahyan, Madam Botchwey noted that “recent inaccurate media reportage had created some misconceptions in the minds of some members of the traveling public in Ghana following the announcement of the Parliamentary ratification of the agreement for the Mutual Exemption of Entry Visa Requirements for holders of certain categories of passports signed between Ghana and the UAE.
In that regard, she mentioned that public education will be embarked upon by the Government to clarify the inaccuracies so as to enable a smooth implementation of the Mutual Exemption of the Entry visas in line with the intention of the two countries.
Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecelia Dapaah, was the first Ghanaian to benefit from the visa waiver agreement after she entered the UAE on August 16, 2021, without any visa requirements.
This was revealed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration during the virtual meeting.
“The good news is on Monday, August 16, 2021, the very first entry into the UAE with visa exemption was Our Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecelia Dapaah. That means the agreement for diplomatic and service passports holders has been completed and is being implemented.”
According to the agreement, the visa waiver applies to people holding diplomatic, service, and ordinary passports.
Ghana’s embassy in the UAE had to make some clarifications on the agreement after it became public following the ratification, saying “even though the agreement has been ratified by the Parliament of Ghana, the processes for its implementation have not been completed”.
