Real estate: UAE refuses to provide investors’ data

Joint ministerial commission to meet in Abu Dhabi in mid-November.

ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has turned down Pakistan’s request for providing data about investment made by Pakistanis in UAE’s real estate and Islamabad will take up the matter during Pak-UAE ministerial commission talks in Abu Dhabi in mid-November.

According to documents, the UAE has sent proposed agenda of the meeting to Pakistan’s Foreign Office so that it can be finalised with input from Islamabad.

The two countries will take up a 10-point agenda, in which laws and regulations governing investments between the two countries will be on top. During the talks, UAE investors will be encouraged to invest in Pakistan’s infrastructure sector, which needs huge resources in the face of flood damages over two years and gas and electricity shortages.

In order to promote private investment in the two countries, the proposal for creation of a joint investment company will be reviewed. They will also discuss a proposal about cooperation in science, research and environment-friendly technology.

The issue of exchange of information about commercial exhibitions will be on the agenda as well.

Preparations for the first meeting of recently established Pakistan-UAE Business Council will also come up for discussion while UAE’s interest in Pakistan’s agricultural sector will also be on the negotiating table.

The two sides will consider exchange of information between their customs departments and how to resolve the certificate of origin issue between the two departments.

Cooperation between banking sectors of the two countries and curbs on money laundering and terrorist financing will also be on the agenda.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th,  2011.