Kosovo and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement for visa exemption for holders of diplomatic and official passports.
The agreement was signed in Riyadh by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Kreshnik Ahmeti and his counterpart, Waleed Abdulkarim El Khereiji, VisaGuide.World reports.
During the meeting with the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr El Khereiji, they talked about the establishment of economic cooperation, cooperation in the field of defence and against terrorism, and about the initiation and finalisation of agreements in the field of transport, education and sports.
Welcoming the new agreement, Deputy Minister Ahmeti thanked Saudi Arabia for its ongoing support and contribution to the Republic of Kosovo. Ahmeti urged for simpler entry rules for Kosovars planning to travel to Saudi Arabia.
Since the beginning of this month, Kosovars have been eligible to travel visa-free to Schengen Zone countries for short-term stays.
In addition to facilitating the travel process for Kosovars, the decision has significantly improved the power of its passport.
Based on this month’s update of the VisaGuide Passport Index, Kosovo’s passport has climbed by 90 positions, from the 188th position, which was placed last month, to the 98th position, which it now occupies.
The climbing of Kosovo’s passport in this index, which ranks passports of 199 countries in terms of the power of its passport, has been considered historical by the founder of VisaGuide.World, Besart Bajrami.
This is a historical achievement for Kosovo and a historical climb up in the passport strength index, which showcases that only the EU has the exclusive authority to increase the power of a passport overnight to such an extent.
However, Kosovars need a traditional visa when planning to visit 97 countries, a visa on arrival to visit 32 counties and an eVisa for 33 counties.
Besides, the governments of 16 world countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cuba, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Moldova, Russia, Syria, Spain, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela – have prohibited Kosovo passport holders from reaching their territories, after they do not recognise Kosovo as an independent state.
Recently, authorities in Spain announced that, in spite of the fact that they do not recognise Kosovo as an independent country, they will accept passports issued by authorities in this country.
In December last year, when Kosovo was placed in the 188th position in the VisaGuide.World passport index, holders of Kosovo’s passports were eligible to travel visa-free to only 11 countries and were subject to traditional visas for trips to 130 countries.