Chairman of the Pakistan – UAE Business Council, Fakhruddin Diwan,* has stressed that a long-term economic engagement with UAE can greatly benefit Pakistan in coping with ever-lasting foreign exchange crisis; non-existent economic growth; diversifying exports basket and enhancing workers remittances.
It is pertinent to note that the volume of bilateral trade of Pakistan and UAE has well-surpassed the psychological mark of *$10 billion in FY22 – which makes UAE Pakistan’s largest trading partner in the entire Middle-East & North Africa Region (MENA); which consists of 21 countries.*
However, the trade balance is in UAE’s favor by a significant margin. Therefore, we need to engage UAE to invest in Pakistan through joint ventures; industrial collaborations; solar energy projects; corporate farming & food processing; IT & ITeS and petrochemicals.
Fakhruddin Diwan explained that given the world-class and state-of-the-art communications infrastructure of UAE, Pakistan should work towards *integrating UAE into CPEC through creating bridges with their ports, shipping, trade, financial, tourism and commercial networks.*
Additionally, Pakistan’s *workers remittances from UAE stand at $6.11 billion.* Pair that with UAE’s numerous loans and grants to shore up Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves (FER) held by the State Bank of Pakistan on various crunch times over the last 3 decades, UAE is effectively one of the most trusted and indispensable economic partners of Pakistan.
