UAE seeks 'new economic roadmap' to bolster trade ties with Pakistan

Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates have great potential to further improve bilateral trade and the UAE wants to work on a new economic roadmap with Pakistan to take bilateral trade and economic relations to higher levels.

This was stated by ambassador of the UAE to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Alzaabi, while exchanging views with Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan.

The diplomat visited CCI on Wednesday and exchanged views to explore trade opportunities between both the countries.

The UAE ambassador said that he visited Faisalabad and Sialkot and saw that Pakistan has great potential to export many products to the UAE.

He urged that Pakistani manufacturers to do proper marketing of their exportable products to boost exports up to their actual potential. “Pakistan helped the UAE in food security during Covid-19 pandemic.”

Alzaabi went on to say that Pakistani meat products are going to Jordan and other countries from the UAE, which showed that Pakistan could make a significant increase in its exports by getting better penetration in the UAE market.

The UAE-India bilateral trade is around $75 billion, but the UAE-Pakistan bilateral trade is around $14 billion, which is quite less than the actual potential of both countries and more efforts are needed to enhance it, he added.

The envoy said that Pakistan should improve its legal framework and formulate more business friendly policies to attract more FDI from the UAE.

“The Pakistan Business Council UAE should play a more proactive role in improving bilateral trade and investment relations between the two countries.”

He said that more than 7,000 Pakistani companies are registered in the UAE and he “is ready to play a role to address the challenges being faced by them in his country”.

He said that the ICCI should form a delegation for the UAE and he would cooperate in connecting them with right counterparts in his country.

Speaking at the occasion, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said that the UAE has always stood by Pakistan and provided crucial support to it in times of need that is appreciable.

He said that Pakistan and UAE enjoyed close friendly relations that should be transformed into growing trade and economic relations.

He said that production cost in Pakistan is quite low, therefore, the UAE investors should explore more JVs and investment in Pakistan that would help in promoting exports to Middle East, Europe and other countries.

He said that despite great potential for trade cooperation, the communication gap was holding back the entrepreneurs of both countries from realizing their actual trade potential.

The CCI president urged that Pakistan and the UAE to facilitate direct connectivity between their private sectors that would help in exploring new avenues of trade cooperation.

He also discussed with the UAE ambassador the issue of visa restrictions on Pakistanis and proposed that the UAE should finalise separate visa criteria for Pakistani businessmen to facilitate them in visiting the UAE so that business and economic relations could further flourish between the two countries.

He assured that he would try to take a business delegation representing across Pakistan to the UAE to promote business linkages between the two countries.

Senior Vice President Fatma Azim and ICCI Vice President Abdul Rehman Khan were also present on the occasion.