Pakistan was the first country to accord formal recognition to UAE on its achieving independence while bilateral relations and mutually beneficial co-operation, have progressed steadily ever since. This was stated by Muhammad Ijaz Abbasi, President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI).
While exchanging views with Hisham Al Shirawi, second Vice Chairman, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry during his recent visit to Dubai at the head of an ICCI business delegation. He said Pakistan and the UAE enjoy close and fraternal relations, founded on deep-rooted cultural affinities, shared faith and traditions and geographic proximity and identity of interests.
He said these relations date back to the UAE's formation in 1971 and have since evolved into wide-ranging co-operation, particularly in economic field. The ICCI President said UAE is the one of the largest economic and trading partners of Pakistan and has been a major donor of economic assistance to Pakistan.
He said a large number of Pakistani expatriates are gainfully employed in UAE and they have contributed significantly to the promotion of bilateral understanding and to the economy of Pakistan through their home remittances. He said trade between the two countries is on the rise as trade volume, which was $1.4 billion in 1999-2000 increased to $2.8 billion in 2004-2005, depicting 20 per cent growth per year while it has crossed $5 billion in 2007. Abbasi highly appreciated the role of UAE investors in promoting Pakistan's economy.
He said UAE's leading corporate entities like Etisalat, Warid, Wateen, Bank Al Falah, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates Global Islamic Bank, Al-Ghurair Giga and Emaar have made billions of dollars investment in Pakistan's telecom, banking and construction and real estate industries respectively while Al-Ghuran another UAE based real estate giant that plans to invest Rs 45 billion in construction and real estate business Pakistan and other UAE investments in Pakistan are in the fields of airlines, financial business, hotels and tractors.
He also said these investors are not only earning high returns on their investments, they are also providing plenty of job opportunities to Pakistan's human resource talent. The ICCI President said many Pakistani investors have also invested in UAE, particularly in real estate and construction sectors that shows that business to business relations between the two countries are increasing between both countries.
He said to further promote these business relations, ICCI had proposed Dubai Chamber of Commerce for signing of MoU, which will be signed in near future and expressed his hope that it will further cement our economic relations. Abbasi further said Pakistan is an agricultural country and it offers vast investment opportunities in this field.
He invited UAE investors to bring their capital and latest agro-technology to Pakistan, where they have the potential to reap very high returns. He invited Dubai Chamber delegation to visit Pakistan to explore more business opportunities, especially in agriculture sector in Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion Hisham Al Shirawl, the second Vice Chairman, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan is a growing market for investments creating a win-win situation, outlining greater investment opportunities for both the countries.