UAE Ambassador Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Alzaabi met Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan during his visit to the chamber.

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

Ambassador Alzaabi said both nations had great potential to further improve bilateral trade, adding that his country wanted to work on a new economic roadmap with Pakistan to take trade and economic relations to higher levels.

He shared that Pakistan had helped UAE in food security during the pandemic and that Pakistani meat products were going to Jordan and other countries from UAE,

which showed that Pakistan could make a significant increase in its exports by getting better penetration in the UAE market.

He said: “UAE-Pakistan bilateral trade is around $14 billion, which is less than the actual potential of both countries and more efforts are needed to enhance it. Pakistan should improve its legal framework and formulate more business-friendly policies to attract more foreign direct investment from the UAE.”

Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan said the UAE had always stood by Pakistan and provided crucial support to it in times of need that was appreciable.

“Pakistan and UAE enjoyed close friendly relations that should be transformed into growing trade and economic relations. Production cost in Pakistan was quite low, therefore, UAE investors should explore more joint ventures and investment in Pakistan that would help in promoting exports to Middle East, Europe and other countries,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2020