ISLAMABAD, (TDI): A UAE’s Abu Dhabi (AD) Ports group’s delegation has held meeting with Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to hold discussion on exploring avenues for investment.
The UAE, Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States, have several bilateral agreements with Pakistan and some its private companies are already investing in Pakistan.
AD Ports Group, a leading maritime and logistics provider in the Middle East, signed an agreement in July this year to invest $250 million in Pakistan in 10 years as it plans to build an advanced port facility in Karachi.
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Reports suggest that the group is keen to expand its investment in Pakistan. Office of the deputy pm confirmed to a news portal that this meeting and discussion on investment was held this week.
Pakistan is in financial crises for the last few years and is in earnest need of foreign investment in the country.
According to Arab News the country has intensified its efforts in recent months to attract international investments, particularly from Gulf countries, as it looks to evade a prolonged macroeconomic crisis.
Pakistan has been struggling with a chronic balance of payments crisis, a weak currency and low foreign reserves that have crippled its $350 billion economy.
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It is also an ideal export destination for the South Asian nation as the short distance between the two countries limits transportation costs and facilitates commercial exchanges.
The Middle Eastern country is also home to over a million and a half Pakistani expatriates.
After Saudi Arabia, the UAE is Pakistan’s largest source of workers’ remittances and the preferred choice of thousands of laborers who live and work in the country
