The UAE’s Cabinet has adopted an agreement that will see the mutual exemption of visa requirements for citizens of the UAE and Russia in a bid to encourage mutual tourism, investment and trade, it was announced on Thursday.

The announcement was one of a number of strategic decisions announced this week, which also included changes to foreign workers insurance in the private sector as well as a legislative package of visa facilitations.

The move comes just weeks after a meeting between His Highness Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Vladimir Putin in Moscow on June 1.

According to UAE authorities, the agenda of the meeting included further development of Russia-UAE trade, economic and investment cooperation and urgent international and regional issues.

Putin and Sheikh Mohamed also signed a strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and the UAE.

Statistics from Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing show that Russia was the fourth largest source market for Dubai visitors in the first quarter of 2018, with 259,000 Russians visiting Dubai over that time period.

The figure represents a 106 percent increase over Q1 2017, which Dubai Tourism credits to the availability of visa-on-arrival facilities for Russian citizens.