ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif will undertake an official visit to United Arab Emirates (UAE) on May 23 (tomorrow), sources informed on Tuesday.
During his visit, PM Shehbaz Sharif will hold meetings with the United Arab Emirates leadership.
Apart from federal ministers, the PM will also be accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, according to the PML-N sources.
Sources said that he will also hold meetings with the Pakistani community and investors in the UAE.
Ahead of his visit to the Gulf country, the prime minister will visit Tehran on Wednesday (tomorrow) to offer condolences on the sad demise of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian and other high ranking officials in a helicopter crash.
Prime Minister Shehbaz will hold meetings with UAE leadership, which according to sources, would focus on persuading the Gulf country to invest in Pakistan.
The government is eyeing billions of dollars investment from Gulf countries particularly from Saudi Arabia and UAE to shore up the country’s foreign reserves and spur industrial growth.
The civil-military led Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) was established during the first term of Shehbaz government. The council is meant to offer one window operation to foreign investors.
The SIFC has since then identified several potential areas for Saudi and UAE investors. The government is offering lucrative returns to Arab investors in the fields of agriculture, mines and minerals, energy and other sectors.
In one of the interactions with business community in Lahore last year, the army chief hoped that under the SIFC, Saudi Arabia and UAE would invest a whopping $70 billion in the next 3 to 5 years.
The UAE is home to around 1.7 million Pakistanis who have been playing a pivotal role in the success story of the UAE, for the last five decades, contributing to the progress, prosperity and economic development of the two brotherly countries.
In his last visit, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered condolences to United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the sad demise of his brother Sheikh Saeed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
The prime minister was accompanied by Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Tariq Fatemi and Ambassador of Pakistan to UAE Faisal Niaz Tirmizi.
PM Shehbaz Sharif conveyed the profound sympathies and condolences of the leadership, Government and people of Pakistan to the president of UAE on his brother’s demise, which was received with great warmth by Shiekh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
