KARACHI: Saudi Arabia has launched the Makkah Route Initiative at Pakistan’s Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Sunday.
Karachi is the second airport in Pakistan to benefit from the program, which is part of Kingdom’s plans to serve Hajj pilgrims.
The Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of Makkah Route Initiative and Director General of Passports, Lieutenant General Sulaiman bin Abdulaziz Al-Yahya, the Governor of Sindh Province, Muhammad Kamran Khan Tessori, and the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Maliki, attended the ceremony.
The Makkah Route Initiative would provide high-quality services to pilgrims from beneficiary countries.
The services under the program include issuing electronic Hajj visas and taking biometric data, completing entry procedures into Saudi Arabia from the departure airport, verifying health documents, coding and sorting luggage, and arranging transportation and accommodation in Makkah and Madinah.
Special routes have been set up for buses to move pilgrims to their accommodations while partner agencies take care of delivering their luggage.
The Makkah Route Initiative is one of the initiatives of the Saudi Ministry of Interior within the Pilgrim Experience Program, which is part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
The program is being implemented in cooperation with the ministries of foreign affairs, health, Hajj and Umrah, and media, the General Authority of Civil Aviation, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority, the Saudi Data and AI Authority, and the Pilgrim Experience Program to improve the Hajj experience.
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