Tremendous Potential to Increase Two-way Pak-UAE Trade: Kasuri
'Pakistan Times' Diplomatic Desk

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri Monday said there was tremendous potential to significantly increase and diversify the two-way trade between Pakistan and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In his opening statement at the Ninth session of the Pakistan-UAE Joint Ministerial Commission, that met here today after a gap of nearly ten years, the Foreign Minister hoped the meeting will help address obstacles hampering optimum realization of the potential of their economic relations.

"We are appreciative of the confidence of investors from the UAE in our economic and fiscal policies," he said and added that Pakistan was producing highly competitive and value-added products, such as garments, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, agricultural machinery and electronic equipment that could meet UAE's requirements.

He said the bilateral trade which had hovered around US 2 billion dollars for the past many years has shown considerable progress this year and has reached US 4 billion dollars.

He said the enabling environment in Pakistan was highly conducive for both foreign investment and joint ventures in diverse fields and would attract more investors.

The Foreign Minister dwelt at length about Pakistan's economic health and particularly mentioned the significant increase in the Foreign Direct Investments during the last seven years that he added was a clear demonstration of the confidence of investors in country's economic policies.

He said the overall investment in Pakistan was an unprecedented 20 percent of GDP and the Foreign Direct Investments was likely exceed $ 6 billion by the year end.

Kasuri said it was important that the two governments facilitate interaction and collaboration between the private sectors on both sides.

He said regular exchange of information on the facilities and incentives provided by each side would be an important first step in this direction.

He said participation in trade fairs on both sides will be of tremendous benefit to the business leaders and hoped that the accord proposed to be concluded between the two Chambers of Commerce and Industry during the JMC meeting will serve as a useful bridge for economic collaboration.

He said the Pak-UAE relations were based on solid foundations. "We need to focus on providing a new impetus and dynamism to these ties. It is imperative that we fully utilize the institutional framework that exists in the form of bilateral agreements and joint fora to strengthen cooperation in diverse fields."

He expressed confidence that the Joint Ministerial Commission would formulate a constructive and comprehensive action plan for the further broadening and deepening of our economic and trade relations.

He said it was imperative that the JMC meets regularly and frequently to strengthen the institutional framework and that its recommendations were followed for bolstering relations in the economic, commercial and technical areas.

He hoped that some important cooperation agreements will be concluded which will greatly help streamline cooperation in the specified areas and will provide a facilitating and conducive environment for business leaders of the two countries.

Foreign Minister Kasuri particularly mentioned the tremendous contribution towards the socio-economic uplift of various areas in Pakistan by late President of UAE Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan.●