European Union to add Qatar to safe travel list

The European Union is set to add Gulf state Qatar to its safe travel list after coming to an agreement on Wednesday.

European Union (EU) governments will add Qatar and 10 other countries to their safe list of countries from which they will allow travellers, diplomats said.

Ambassadors from the EU’s 27 states approved the list on Wednesday and the change is set to take effect in the next few days.

The 10 other nations joining Qatar on the list are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Canada, Jordan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, and Saudi Arabia.

Individual EU countries can still opt to request a negative Covid-19 PCR test or a period of quarantine.

In recent weeks, a number of EU countries have opened their borders to vaccinated travellers from Qatar.

On Wednesday, Austria become the latest European country to open its borders for fully vaccinated travellers from Qatar after months of travel restriction due to Covid-19.

Other European countries include Germany, Italy, Georgia, France and Spain, all of which have also opened up for vaccinated travellers in recent weeks, as part of efforts to return to normalcy as the number of vaccinated individuals increases worldwide.

Follow Doha News on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube.