Nov 8, 2008

Sport - Cricket;ICC to push for common visa during 2011 World Cup

Karachi (PTI): In a bid to make the 2011 World Cup a hit with the spectators, the International Cricket Council will soon write to the governments of hosts India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to allow a common visa for the fans.

This was one of the decisions taken at the two-day meeting of the World Cup organising committee held in India this week which was chaired by the ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat.

"There is unanimity that there should be one visa for the four South Asian countries for the World Cup and the ICC will be approaching the governments to facilitate them in this," Pakistan Cricket Board Director General Saleem Altaf said.

The ICC and the West Indies also had a common visa (Caricom) for the last World Cup held in the islands in 2007.

"Having a common visa will help attract more visitors and tourists and increase revenues," Altaf said.

He said the ICC also made it clear to all four host countries that they were at least 10 months behind schedule in their preparations for the mega event.

The joint World Cup committee was formed in June 2007 in Bhurban, Pakistan but has not met regularly since then. The meeting in New Delhi was its first formal one in a year.

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