Manama: Kuwait has dismissed reports that it had waived visa requirements for visitors from Iran, saying that they were not true.
According to the reports, Tehran expressed readiness to annul visa requirements for visitors from neighbouring countries if they reciprocated the move for Iranian nationals.
“Iran is prepared to waive visa requirements or facilitate the process of issuing visas for all countries, especially the neighbours, if they take similar action,” Hassan Qashqavi, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular, Parliamentary and Iranian Expatriates’ Affairs, said, quoted by Iranian media.
In the reports, Qashqavi cited Kuwait as an example, saying that “Iran is planning to annul visa requirements for Kuwaiti nationals as the Arab country no longer requires Iranian visitors to obtain visas.”
However, Kuwait said that it never waived the visa requirements and that the statement by the Iranian government official had been mistranslated.
“What was meant was that Iran was ready to waive visa requirements for Kuwaiti nationals whenever Kuwait annulled them for Iranian visitors,” a spokesperson for the foreign affairs ministry said, quoted by Kuwaiti media on Sunday.”
“The issue of visas is on the agenda of the meeting of the joint committee between Kuwait and Iran and it will be discussed when the panel meets, the spokesperson said.
Iran has been pushing for closer relations and deeper cooperation with Kuwait.
In October, Ali Jannati, the Iranian culture and Islamic guidance minister said that Iran-Kuwait cooperation would help promote regional peace and stability in line with mutual interests.
“The expansion of cultural, academic, media and artistic cooperation will pave the way for development of collaboration in other fields,” he reportedly said in Kuwait City in a meeting with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Shaikh Jaber Al Mubarak Hamad Al Sabah.
