Manama: Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have agreed to allow their citizens to travel between the two countries using their identity cards instead of passports.
Saudi interior minister Prince Nayef Ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud and his Kuwaiti counterpart Shaikh Jaber Al Khalid Al Subah inked the agreement in the Bahraini capital. They were both in Manama where they took part in the Iraq's neighbours conference.
The agreement will help boost relations between the two countries, Shaikh Azam Mubarak Al Subah, Kuwait's ambassador in Bahrain, said on Wednesday in Manama. "The agreement will help eliminate obstacles and reinforce cooperation."
In March, Abdul Rahman Al Atiyyah, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) chief, said that the two countries had completed all the measures to enable their citizens to move between the two countries using smart ID cards.
"With this agreement, all GCC countries have realised their plan to have their citizens use only IDs to travel around the Council," he said.
Under an agreement reached by the six GCC countries, their citizens are allowed to travel freely in the council and are entitled to receive the same benefits as nationals of the country where they apply for a job.
The Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, has stepped up measures towards greater unity by setting up a common market.
A decision by Saudi Arabia in August 2009 to suspend the travel agreement with the UAE that allowed Emiratis to use their ID cards was not reciprocated by the UAE.
Despite the restriction, UAE President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a directive allowing Saudi nationals to continue to enter the UAE using only their ID cards.
