As per UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Alzaabi, there is a huge potential for Pakistan and the UAE to support bilateral trade. He said that the UAE was willing to work with Pakistan to establish a new economic roadmap that will take their joint trade and economic relations to a next level.
During a meeting with Islamabad CCI President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, the envoy made these remarks. Both dignitaries expressed thoughts on trade ties between them and addressed the potential for more opportunities to be explored in order to improve bilateral trade.
The ambassador of the UAE said that he had visited Faisalabad and Sialkot and saw that Pakistan had great potential to export many goods to the United Arab Emirates.
In order to boost exports to their real potential, he urged Pakistani producers to market their exportable goods correctly.
Alzaabi went on to claim that Pakistani meat products go to Jordan and other UAE countries, which showed that Pakistan can increase its exports significantly by gaining better penetration in the UAE market.
The envoy spoke about how bilateral trade between the UAE and India is worth about $75 billion, but trade between the UAE and Pakistan is worth only around $14 billion. This further underscored his argument that trade between the UAE and Pakistan was not quite up to its true potential and efforts are needed to be made by both countries to boost their trade.
The envoy said Pakistan should strengthen its legal structure and develop more business-friendly policies in order to attract more UAE FDI.
He said that there are more than 7,000 Pakistani companies registered in the UAE and he “is ready to play a role in addressing their country’s challenges.”
The ICCI president meanwhile, spoke on the occasion to announce that the two countries enjoyed good relations and during times of need, the UAE had always been there for Pakistan. He accepted that efforts should be made to turn their partnership into something more beneficial, stressing that UAE investors should explore more opportunities for investment in Pakistan.
