EDC meets high profile Pakistani business delegation

Headed by His Excellency Khursheed Ahmed Junejo, Ambassador of Pakistan; His Excellency Dr Saeed Khan Mohmand, Consul General of Pakistan, and Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Chairman of Pak-UAE Business Council, the delegation was received by Engineer Saed Al Awadi, Chief Executive Officer of EDC.

The business meeting's primary objective was to explore further trade opportunities between the two countries through a series of joint promotional trade activities. EDC highlighted the corporation's export promotion and development services to Pakistani delegation, including its advocacy role as Dubai's export support organisation.

"Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, Dubai in particular, have a history of trade and cooperation and there are currently significant opportunities for both countries in regard to cooperative export. With this business meeting, we aim to identify and implement projects that will prove beneficial to companies of both countries," said Dr Baig.

"In this meeting, we have 30 companies from Pakistan representing different sectors and can benefit from the potential trade horizons that the UAE has to offer. The foreign direct investment from the UAE in Pakistan has grown up, and we have many investments from the UAE such as from Al Falah Bank and Emaar. We would also like to see some deals from the UAE in the energy sectors," he added. "We are keen to capitalise on the UAE as the business hub of the Middle East, as our exports to the UAE have reached $22bn in 2008, where textile exports amounted to $12bn."

The Pakistani delegation consisted of companies from the agriculture, textile, real estate, digital imaging, oil and gas, manufacturing and publishing sectors. During the business meeting with EDC, the delegation also met with various key Dubai-based organisations to explore investment opportunities in the UAE and consider opportunities for using Dubai as a hub to re-export to the rest of the world.

"EDC, as part of its mandate to promote exports from Dubai and the UAE, is keen to assist foreign delegations intending to source products from the UAE and attract more businesses to establish in Dubai, which will increase its status as a key regional trading hub. In the period of 2007-2008, Pakistan's imports from the UAE rose to $5.2bn from $3.4bn, making the UAE as Pakistan's second-largest trading partner after the US," said Al Awadi.

The discussion with Pakistan is part of a broader campaign by EDC to develop and enhance trade relationships with countries across the world. In conducting these discussions, EDC is working to uncover investment opportunities that will benefit both economies involved in the trade process.

"In FPCCI, we always look for trade and export opportunities for the Pakistan business community. We are dedicated to the development of international trade and investments. EDC, as the government organisation in charge of promoting exports, will help us expand trade in the UAE,"

said Dr Baig.

The size of Pakistan-UAE bilateral trade touched $7bn in the last fiscal year ended June 30 with the balance of trade in favour of the UAE. The UAE's exports to Pakistan are primarily crude oil, chemicals, rubber, plastic, machinery, engineering items and pure gold.