Pakistan, UAE agree to bolster ties
Celina Ali
Islamabad: Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates on Monday signed multiple memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to further cooperation in trade, culture and consular affairs during an official visit by UAE’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Islamabad.
The UAE deputy premier arrived in Islamabad on Sunday for a two-day official visit aimed at strengthening cooperation in energy, trade and security, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in an earlier statement.
Pakistan and the UAE have deepened their economic partnership in recent years. The UAE is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States, and a major source of foreign investment, with over $10 billion invested in the last two decades.
“I must say that our relationship has been growing on a good pace,” Al Nayhan said during a joint media interaction with his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“I think both our leaders, the people of Pakistan and the UAE do want to see more development in the relationship,” he added.
The UAE deputy prime minister said relations between the two countries, over the past few years, have been “moving faster than they have for a while.”
“And I really look forward that the good spirit that has been moving the relationship in the last few months would continue on so many different cycles, if it’s trade, investment, aviation,” Al Nayhan said.
After a brief interval, Dar and Al Nayhan signed several memoranda of understandings (MoUs) to promote bilateral cooperation between the two countries in multiple sectors including culture, trade and consular affairs, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said.
Dar and Al Nahyan signed an MoU between the UAE ministry of culture and the culture division of Pakistan to promote cooperation in culture sector. The two dignitaries also signed an MoU for the establishment of joint committee for consular affairs.
The two sides also witnessed the exchange of an MoU signed between the Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) for the establishment of the UAE Pakistan Joint Business Council.
The UAE royal is also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his visit.
His stay in Pakistan is expected to further strengthen the longstanding ties between the two countries and contribute to deepening bilateral engagements in diverse fields, benefiting the peoples of both countries, according to the foreign office.
The UAE is home to over a million Pakistani expatriates, the second-largest overseas Pakistani community globally, and a major source of remittance inflows to Pakistan.
Policymakers in Islamabad view the UAE as an ideal export destination due to its geographic proximity, which lowers freight costs and facilitates smoother trade.
In recent years, the two countries have signed a series of agreements to boost economic ties.
In February, during the Abu Dhabi crown prince’s visit to Pakistan, the two sides signed accords in mining, railways, banking and infrastructure.
Last year in January, Pakistan and the UAE signed deals worth more than $3 billion covering railways, economic zones and infrastructure development.
The UAE has become an even more crucial partner for Pakistan amid Islamabad’s efforts to achieve sustainable economic growth after suffering from a prolonged macroeconomic crisis.
