KARACHI: The Ambassador of UAE to Pakistan, Hammad Obaid Ibrahimi AlZaabi, while expressing satisfaction over excellent bilateral trade and brotherly relations between Pakistan and the UAE, said that there was a huge potential to further enhance trade and investment ties, but various bilateral agreements need to be revitalized and updated.
Exchanging views at a meeting of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) on Tuesday, the envoy stated that the UAE investors were keen to come to Pakistan for investing in various sectors, of which the agriculture sector was the “most important sector”.
The ambassador was of the view that investment potential exists in all the provinces of Pakistan particularly in the agriculture, textile, sports and other sectors.
“For us, Pakistan is a brotherly country, and we consider this country as our second home,” he said, adding that the UAE embassy actively engages with Pakistani business community and tries its best to fully facilitate them.
The envoy said he would visit Karachi again in September to hold another meeting with the business community of this city.
He also invited the business community of Karachi chamber to participate in the Expo 2020 Dubai which will start from October 2021 with more than 180 countries participating in this expo.
“It will provide a perfect opportunity to Pakistani businessmen to improve linkages and explore areas of trade and investment cooperation.”
He also said that the UAE has been issuing golden visas to investors with no investment limits and also to professionals for a period of ten years, and they have been receiving many applications for the golden visa which can also be obtained by the business fraternity of Karachi chamber.
KCCI president Shariq Vohra, while warmly welcoming the ambassador, said that Pakistan and the UAE have been enjoying excellent relations for many years, and it was really heartening to see that a large number of Pakistani manpower has been working rigorously and playing a major role in the development and modernization of the UAE which resulted in making it a major international transit hub.
He said that though trade of more than US$5 billion has been going on between the two brotherly countries, yet not much investment has been made particularly by the UAE investors in Pakistan as only a few Emirati companies have invested here which requires attention from both sides.
“UAE investors must come to invest in Pakistan which offers lucrative opportunities in numerous sectors particularly the agriculture sector,” he said while referring to a statement of Prime Minister Imran Khan during the visit of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in which PM Khan welcomed UAE’s interest in investing in various sectors in Pakistan including oil and gas, logistics, ports and construction.
He particularly mentioned that investors from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries usually get discouraged because of state’s inability to guarantee title when a foreign investor purchases land which was not just complex but also insecure as the law provides little or no protection to the investor’s title. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the Karachi chamber has taken up this serious matter with both the federal and provincial tiers of the government so that it could be resolved and the procedure is also simplified which would surely attract huge foreign investment all over the country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021