Dubai: Bilateral and trade relations between the UAE and Pakistan are set for a major boost with the visit of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander.
Ghulam Dastgir, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UAE, termed Mohamead Bin Zayed’s visit to Pakistan on Thursday as ‘very important’. “This is the continuation of high level contact between the leadership of the two countries,” he told Gulf News. He said that both the leaders are in regular contact with each other and also talk on curcial regional issues. This is the second visit of Mohamed Bin Zayed to Pakistan since Prime Minister Imran Khan has come in to power. Also, Prime Minister Imran has visited the UAE three times to meet Mohamad Bin Zayed.
Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited Islamabad on Thursday on a one-day visit and met Prime Minister Imran Khan. He last visited Pakistan in January, 2019.
Largest trading partner
He said that the UAE is Pakistan’s largest trading partner and the visit would further strengthen this link. “This visit has provided opportunity to both the sides to discuss bilateral and regional issues,” he added. Some of the other major points on the agenda were discussion on trade, investment, health and education sector.
Ambassador Dastgir noted that the UAE is also among Pakistan’s prime development partners in education, health and energy sectors. “It hosts more than 1.6 million expatriate Pakistani community, which contributes remittances of around $4.5 billion annually to the GDP of Pakistan,” he added.
Business community hailed the visit
Pakistan’s business community in the UAE also welcomed Mohamed Bin Zayed’s visit to Pakistan.
Dr Qaiser Anis, President of Pakistan Business and Professional Council in Abu Dhabi, said that Shaikh Mohamead Bin Zayed’s first international visit to Pakistan with the start of the new year showed the close brotherly relation between UAE and Pakistan established long since the formation of UAE.
Unparalleled progress
“Both the countries are steering the region hand in hand and the unparalleled progress made by UAE and Pakistan. Pakistan respects the UAE in very high esteem, likewise, the UAE nationals respect Pakistanis as they prefer to hire Pakistanis to work for their projects and their businesses,” he noted.
_resources1_16a30b2fa7e_author.jpg)
“This important visit of his Highness certainly is in line with all the commitments made during his past meetings in the field of defence and field of oil sector,” he added.
“We, Pakistanis, are really proud of the support and investment made by the UAE in infrastructure, real estate industry, banking, telecommunications, insurance, aviation and the last but not the least in the energy sector,” Dr Anis said.
He said that Pakistanis are looking forward the success of Expo 2020 as the businessmen and investors will be visiting UAE for this occasion.
Opportunities for investment
Speaking to Gulf News, Iqba Dawood, President of Pakistan Business Council in Dubai, said the His Highness’s visit would further boost trade and investment between the two countries. “UAE is taking interest in various development projects in Pakistan. We are optimistic that this visit would further create investment, trade and business opportunities. Pakistani government is making all out efforts to attract foreign investment. This visit will further strengthen Pakistan’s commitment to facilitate foreign investors and gain their confidence,” he added.
He said the bilateral trade of US$8.5 billion between the two countries is set to increase in coming years as it is less than a quarter of the real potential.
Beneficial for both the countries
Ahmed Shaikhani, vice president of Pakistan Business Council in Dubai, said that UAE always stood by Pakistan and the visit by His Highness would surely be beneficial for both the countries especially for Pakistan in terms of investment.
“We, as overseas Pakistanis living in the UAE, are given the best of facilities in the UAE and we hope that our relations would further improve in the years to come,” he added.
