Pakistan, Italy sign visa waiver accord for diplomatic passport holders

ROME: Pakistan and Italy have signed an agreement removing visa requirements for holders of diplomatic passports, according to an official handout issued after a ceremony at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to Italy Ali Javed and Italy’s Secretary General for Foreign Affairs Ambassador Riccardo Guariglia signed the accord. Before the ceremony, the two diplomats held one-on-one talks and reviewed bilateral relations as well as cooperation at multilateral forums, including the United Nations and the European Union.

The official statement said both sides expressed satisfaction with the substance, intensity and upward trajectory of their strategic cooperation. It added that the new arrangement would help ease exchanges of diplomatic delegations and support stronger bilateral engagement.

Officials described the agreement as a sign of mutual trust and friendship and said it would serve as an important addition to the existing framework of cooperation between the two countries.

Existing cooperation framework

According to the statement, Pakistan and Italy already have 15 government-to-government agreements covering fields such as tourism, culture, science and technology, sports, higher defence studies, and anti-narcotics cooperation. It added that there are also 21 memorandums of understanding between universities and think tanks in the two countries.

The statement identified several key institutional arrangements already in place, including the Defence Cooperation accord signed in 2009, the Strategic Engagement Plan launched by the two countries’ foreign ministers in 2013, and the Joint Economic Commission established in 2005.

It also referred to earlier treaties between the two sides, including the Investment Protection Treaty of 1997, the Dual Citizenship Agreement of 1983, and the Extradition Treaty of 1972.

Labour mobility and next round of talks

The handout said that on May 7, 2025, Pakistan and Italy also concluded a memorandum of understanding on Labour Mobility and Migration in Islamabad. It described the arrangement as Pakistan’s first labour agreement with a European country and said it makes Pakistani workers eligible for 10,500 Pakistan-specific jobs in Italy.

During the meeting in Rome, Ambassador Javed also renewed, on behalf of Pakistan’s foreign secretary, an invitation to Ambassador Guariglia to visit Pakistan for the seventh round of Bilateral Political Consultations. According to the statement, he conveyed Pakistan’s readiness to hold those talks in the last quarter of 2026.

The handout added that Pakistan was also keen to inaugurate the newly built Italian Embassy in Islamabad, described in the statement as Italy’s largest diplomatic mission overseas, underlining the importance both sides attach to their relationship.