Covid-19: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to Work on Easing Travel Restrictions

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia discussed ways to relax Covid-19 travel restrictions on Tuesday, which have trapped about 400,000 Pakistani workers at home, based on foreign ministers of the two countries, according to Reuters.

The issue was raised in Islamabad with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, who is in Pakistan for a one-day visit.

After fissures in their historically amicable relations early this year, Al Saud is the first high-ranking Saudi official to visit Pakistan.

At a joint news conference in Islamabad, his Pakistani colleague Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that travel Covid-19 restrictions had stranded roughly 400,000 of the country's over two million Pakistani workers in Saudi Arabia.

"They're up against it," he said. "You're aware of the travel limitations and immunization difficulties."

Saudi Arabia, which prohibits direct travel from Pakistan, has only approved the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson vaccines, so anyone entering without one must undergo quarantine, which many Pakistani employees claim they cannot pay.