Vietnam, Qatar seek visa exemption for tourists

At a meeting in Hanoi on Monday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani agreed to speed up the signing of a mutual agreement on visa exemption, Vietnam Government Portal reported.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, around 1,000 tourists from Qatar visited Vietnam annually.

Sheikh Mohammed said Vietnam remains an attractive destination for Qatari investors and tourists and pledged to promote cooperation between the two countries in various fields including tourism.

Vietnam currently offers visa exemption for 24 tourism markets, including Japan, South Korea and Western European countries.

Vietnam allowed quarantine-free entry from March 15 and welcomed 954,000 foreign arrivals in the first seven months this year, up nine times year-on-year.

The country hopes to welcome five million foreign arrivals this year, around 30 percent of pre-pandemic levels.