The government of UAE will be opening a new office in Karachi in next two months to attend all kind of visas including renewal of residence & work permits to facilitate Pakistanis going to UAE announced by the Acting Consul General of UAE in Karachi Bakheet Ateeq Al Romaithiin the 1st meeting of Pakistan-UAE Business Council FPCCI, chaired by Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Chairman of the council held at the Federation House.
Dr. Baig discussed proposals for 12th Session of Pak UAE Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC), particularly early signing of Pak-GCC Free Trade Agreement, resolution of PTCL/Etisalat outstanding dues. Dr. Baig informed that bilateral trade between the Pakistan and UAE is US$8.3 billion which includes Pakistan exports to UAE US$ 869 million and import from UAE is US$7.5 billion having huge trade deficit. He suggested to allow import of Rice & Sugar from Pakistan for cooperative stores in UAE. He appreciated Consul General’s initiative to cultivate animal feed Alpha-Alpha in Pakistan and successfully exporting to UAE for last many years.
The members were informed that an Abu Dhabi infrastructure fund is interested to invest in clean& renewable energy projects in Pakistan. Dr. Baig also discussed participation in the Expo 2020, a mega event to take place from October 20, 2020 to April 2021 in UAE for promotion of tourism and assured visit of businessmen delegation from FPCCI to UAE coinciding with inaugural meeting of Pak UAE JMC in Abu Dhabi. He requested to finalize10 members from UAE side for Pak-UAE JMC to finalize the date.
The meeting was attended by Mazhar A. Nasir SVP FPCCI, Usama Qureshi, Khalid Masood, Zubair Haider Sheikh, Anwar Qureshi, Abdul Haseeb Qureshi & members of the council.