Friday, November 18, 2011

A slight thaw appears in frosty Canada-UAE relations

Canadian foreign affairs minister John Baird will visit the UAE (and Kuwait) this week "to underscore Canada’s commitment to working with regional partners to help build strong democracies that respond to the needs and interests of their citizens", according to the ministry.

Might be nice if he could settle this spat over UAE landing rights, so "Canadian citizens who need/want to travel to the UAE don't have to pay for it with hundreds of dollars and loads of bureacracy in securing a visa".

He will join other leaders at the Sir Bani Yas Forum. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I still can't believe that the only two countries in the world I have ever lived in are so grumpy with each other.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice to hear that;
But first check out what do Canadian do for other nationalities to enter Canada
And why did you move to UAE and not remain in Canada

Ms. ZangaZanga said...

It's funny really because when I think of the UAE, and equally, when I think about Canada they're both great nations that do not seem to have a gripe with anybody...

It's funny then that they have a gripe with each other :D !

cynical joe said...

Its the beginning of restoring 'good' relations. I still see a period of 18 months of little movement on the landing rights issue till Air Canada begins to take delivery of 787s that will allow it to compete better with Etihad and Emirates. That isn't scheduled to happen till 2014, but early to mid 2013 I think Canada will begin to ease restrictions: not as much as Emirates and Etihad want, but enough so that UAE can reduce or rescind the ridiculous Visa expenses.

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