a330pilotcanada
30th Dec 2010, 11:29
Good Morning All:
This today's Globe and Mail editorial on the going battle with our "friends" at Emirates followed with some comments from readers.
The readers comments tend to be a little "blunt"!
Globe Editorial
The United Arab Emirates’ leaning tower of visas
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
The United Arab Emirates’ decision to require thousand-dollar visas for visiting Canadians is a clumsy overreach that will do nothing to quell tensions between the two countries. It demands an explanation, especially if the UAE wants to enhance economic relations with Canada – which ought to be the main strategic interest of the relationship.
The issue is competence, not cost. Although steep, the top reported cost of the longest-available visa ($1,000 for a six-month, multiple-entry visa, maximum of 14 days a visit) should be manageable for most Canadian business travellers to the UAE. The new apparent requirement to get the visa in advance adds a hassle. And in any case, the UAE seems ready to recognize visas that the Emirates airline and Etihad Airways say they can secure more quickly and cheaply for their passengers.
All this qualified language is necessary, thanks to the silence of UAE diplomats; they have offered little clarity on what is happening, and no explanation of why.
Here is one possible interpretation: By showing the ability of the airlines to get cheap visas, the UAE is indirectly touting their strength, and making another statement about Canada’s refusal to grant additional landing slots to Emirates and Etihad at Canadian airports.
That policy is indeed anticompetitive and ill-advised. But the UAE has already punished Canada once for it – by barring Canadian access to the Afghanistan mission staging facility at Camp Mirage near Dubai, in a disproportionate move that improperly introduced a national-security element into a commercial dispute. So without an explanation, the visa is an added snub, but an oblique one, of less direct consequence.
All the while, energy is being wasted on diplomatic games when it should be focused on increasing prosperity. Trading relations are, at the moment, somewhat unbalanced. Canada send exports to the UAE ($1.3-billion in 2009, or almost seven times the UAE’s exports to Canada), and in return gets foreign direct investment ($4.4-billion, or 63 times what Canada invests in the UAE).
The potential for the relationship is great. Canada has expertise in the things the UAE needs: infrastructure, technology, education and health care, while the UAE is a growing market for Canada, a growing destination for Canadian workers and a gateway to the whole Gulf region.
Canada should change its landing slot regime, but Canadians should not be forced to interpret tea leaves. The UAE should promptly explain its visa decision, or reverse the policy.
Some Comments from the readers:
8:54 PM on December 29, 2010
I got one for the UAE, POUND SAND!
Score: 10
A sad little mealy-mouthed editorial from the Globe & Mail. Canada should never give into threats and blackmail. The dollar figures quoted are a mere pittance. There are plenty of other countries who welcome the opportunity to trade with Canada. If the UAE can't handle rejection for their pet, state-owned airline then that is too damn bad. Why should Canadian jobs be sacrificed for some sheik's plaything?
Score: 10
Canada has become an economic heavyweight. This is a perfect opportunity to show we won't be pushed around. If we give in to the UAE demands over this, then we will have every little tinpot regime all over the world interpreting this as an example of how we can be easily intimidated.
Score: 10
Tell the UAE to put it where the sun don't shine!
Score: 10
What do you expect from a group of people that were living in tents less than a century ago?
Score: 7
The UAE is the most moderate of A-rab gov'ts in Gulf. If this is the closest we have to friends, and this is how they treat friends, W T F are we wasting our time in Afganistan for?
Score: 6
Granted, we need to look at the situation from a broader perspective with respect to all the other business sectors that are involved with international trade between the UAE and Canada. But, strictly from the point of view of the airline industry and how anti-competative this idea of imposing $1000 visas for travellers not flying with Emerits, Canada should retaliate by closing what few landing slots the UAE has right now.
Score: 4
This today's Globe and Mail editorial on the going battle with our "friends" at Emirates followed with some comments from readers.
The readers comments tend to be a little "blunt"!
Globe Editorial
The United Arab Emirates’ leaning tower of visas
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
The United Arab Emirates’ decision to require thousand-dollar visas for visiting Canadians is a clumsy overreach that will do nothing to quell tensions between the two countries. It demands an explanation, especially if the UAE wants to enhance economic relations with Canada – which ought to be the main strategic interest of the relationship.
The issue is competence, not cost. Although steep, the top reported cost of the longest-available visa ($1,000 for a six-month, multiple-entry visa, maximum of 14 days a visit) should be manageable for most Canadian business travellers to the UAE. The new apparent requirement to get the visa in advance adds a hassle. And in any case, the UAE seems ready to recognize visas that the Emirates airline and Etihad Airways say they can secure more quickly and cheaply for their passengers.
All this qualified language is necessary, thanks to the silence of UAE diplomats; they have offered little clarity on what is happening, and no explanation of why.
Here is one possible interpretation: By showing the ability of the airlines to get cheap visas, the UAE is indirectly touting their strength, and making another statement about Canada’s refusal to grant additional landing slots to Emirates and Etihad at Canadian airports.
That policy is indeed anticompetitive and ill-advised. But the UAE has already punished Canada once for it – by barring Canadian access to the Afghanistan mission staging facility at Camp Mirage near Dubai, in a disproportionate move that improperly introduced a national-security element into a commercial dispute. So without an explanation, the visa is an added snub, but an oblique one, of less direct consequence.
All the while, energy is being wasted on diplomatic games when it should be focused on increasing prosperity. Trading relations are, at the moment, somewhat unbalanced. Canada send exports to the UAE ($1.3-billion in 2009, or almost seven times the UAE’s exports to Canada), and in return gets foreign direct investment ($4.4-billion, or 63 times what Canada invests in the UAE).
The potential for the relationship is great. Canada has expertise in the things the UAE needs: infrastructure, technology, education and health care, while the UAE is a growing market for Canada, a growing destination for Canadian workers and a gateway to the whole Gulf region.
Canada should change its landing slot regime, but Canadians should not be forced to interpret tea leaves. The UAE should promptly explain its visa decision, or reverse the policy.
Some Comments from the readers:
8:54 PM on December 29, 2010
I got one for the UAE, POUND SAND!
Score: 10
A sad little mealy-mouthed editorial from the Globe & Mail. Canada should never give into threats and blackmail. The dollar figures quoted are a mere pittance. There are plenty of other countries who welcome the opportunity to trade with Canada. If the UAE can't handle rejection for their pet, state-owned airline then that is too damn bad. Why should Canadian jobs be sacrificed for some sheik's plaything?
Score: 10
Canada has become an economic heavyweight. This is a perfect opportunity to show we won't be pushed around. If we give in to the UAE demands over this, then we will have every little tinpot regime all over the world interpreting this as an example of how we can be easily intimidated.
Score: 10
Tell the UAE to put it where the sun don't shine!
Score: 10
What do you expect from a group of people that were living in tents less than a century ago?
Score: 7
The UAE is the most moderate of A-rab gov'ts in Gulf. If this is the closest we have to friends, and this is how they treat friends, W T F are we wasting our time in Afganistan for?
Score: 6
Granted, we need to look at the situation from a broader perspective with respect to all the other business sectors that are involved with international trade between the UAE and Canada. But, strictly from the point of view of the airline industry and how anti-competative this idea of imposing $1000 visas for travellers not flying with Emerits, Canada should retaliate by closing what few landing slots the UAE has right now.
Score: 4