Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed welcomed the team behind the UAE’s successful effort to forge the world’s most powerful passport to a Sea Palace barza on Tuesday.
The UAE's passport was named as the world's most powerful in the Passport Index earlier this week - an achievement hailed as a tribute to the legacy of the UAE Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed, and the country's diplomacy.
The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces met members of the “UAE passport power team” from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation alongside Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, who oversaw the effort.
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"With the UAE passport attaining first place in the Global Passport Power Rank, Emirati efforts have added a new historic achievement to the nation's record of achievements, and is a more momentous accomplishment as it coincided with the Year of Zayed, and the UAE's 47th National Day celebrations,” he said.
The ministry launched the UAE Passport Force initiative to place the document on the list of the five most powerful passports in the world by 2021, but achieved the goal three years early.
In December 2016, the UAE passport was ranked in 27th place on the index. But by October, the UAE passport had climbed to the fourth spot.
Since then, four more countries were added to the UAE list of visa-free travel, allowing the country to leapfrog other countries such as Singapore and Germany into first place.
The index, compiled by Arton Capital, ranks national passports based on the number of countries a holder can enter without a visa or by obtaining one on arrival.