The Gulf Cooperation Council has approved a major travel plan designed to introduce seamless connection between member states.
The UAE and Bahrain are the two nations selected to trial the first phase of the project, the GCC said on its website.
GCC Secretary General Jasem Al Budaiwi announced the initiative during a meeting of interior ministers held in Kuwait City on Wednesday, confirming that the pilot phase would launch in December through air travel between the two countries.
If successful, the system would be expanded to all six GCC member states, he said.
The Kuwait News Agency said the initiative would allow for citizens of member states to "complete all travel procedures at one point", in a move which would improve connectivity and cut down on airport waiting times.
Under the project, travellers would only need to complete immigration and security checks at the airport their flight originates from, and would not to required to carry out the same procedures on arrival at their final destination.
Assuming the pilot scheme is deemed a success, the system will extend to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, making cross-Gulf travel almost as simple as domestic flights.
Years in the making
The scheme is part of a wider strategy to improve connectivity between members of the GCC for both citizens and residents.
Plans for a unified GCC visa were first approved in 2023 in a bid to streamline travel logistics across the bloc, inspired by the EU's Schengen system.
A unified electronic platform will see each country sharing information on travel-related violations and border records. This database will exchange information in real-time to help verify traveller safety.
It was announced in September that the unified via would be piloted in the final quarter of this year.
The new visa programme is a Schengen-style initiative that would allow non-Gulf nationals the opportunity to visit any of the six countries in the region on one visa. It is also known as the GCC Grand Tours Visa.
“A unified visa would effectively integrate six destinations into a single, connected itinerary,” Victor Abou-Ghanem, chief executive of UAE-born Story Hospitality, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Capital Group, previously told The National.
It would boost the region’s tourism industry by reducing “the administrative frictions that currently constrain multi-stop travel, enabling more long-haul visitors to combine Dubai with Muscat, Doha with Riyadh, or Jeddah with Bahrain in one journey”, he added.
Meanwhile, a much-anticipated rail service linking the Gulf region is poised to open by December 2030, senior officials told The National at the Global Rail conference last month.
The rail route will pass through Saudi Arabia and continue to Bahrain. The Saudi line will be linked to Doha, and then continue through the UAE's Etihad Rail network and across the country to eventually reach the Omani capital Muscat.
Nasser Al Qahtani, interoperability director at the GCC Railways Authority, said the border crossings would be seamless and “follow the best practices in the world”.
This means there will be no stops at borders with immigration checks taking place before boarding. “Of course, border stopping is not on the map. Railway everywhere in the world works on origin-destination. GCC member states and stakeholders are co-operating for success and support in this approach,” he said.
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
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Dir: Steven Spielberg
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Price, base: Dh1 million (estimate)
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Freezer tips
- Always make sure food is completely cool before freezing.
- If you’re cooking in large batches, divide into either family-sized or individual portions to freeze.
- Ensure the food is well wrapped in foil or cling film. Even better, store in fully sealable, labelled containers or zip-lock freezer bags.
- The easiest and safest way to defrost items such as the stews and sauces mentioned is to do so in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees
Tom Sleigh, Graywolf Press
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Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
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Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
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Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
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8.15pm: Firebreak Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $130,000 (D) 1,600m
9.50pm: Meydan Classic – Conditions (TB) $$50,000 (T) 1,400m
9.25pm: Dubai Sprint – Listed Handicap (TB) $88,000 (T) 1,200m
Ferrari
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Jaguar F-Pace SVR
Engine: 5-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 680Nm
Price: Dh465,071
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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