The UAE is scrapping costly visa requirements imposed on Canadian travellers, officials said yesterday, ending a row between the two countries that started in 2010 over aviation rights.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and his UAE counterpart, Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, agreed to “facilitate travel requirements to increase business, tourism and joint prosperity for our citizens by restoring the visa regime”, according to a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

Baird is on a tour of the Middle East.

The UAE in January 2011 started charging Canadians $1,000 for a six-month multiple entry visa, while three-month and one-month visas cost $500 and $250 respectively.

The steep increases in obtaining a visa for the UAE came as the two countries had been at odds over landing rights in Canada for UAE-based carriers and the closure of a UAE military base to Canadian use. – TradeArabia News Service