ISLAMABAD: United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister for Culture, Youth and Social Development, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, said on Wednesday the Abu Dhabi Group would enhance its investments in Pakistan under the leadership and vision of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He said this in a meeting with Pakistani lawmaker and chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, Shehryar Khan Afridi, who is visiting Abu Dhabi, Pakistan’s press information department said in a statement.
This was the second high-level meeting between leaders of the two countries in less than two months. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi visited the UAE in December 2020 and urged the “speedy solution” of the problems of Pakistanis living in the Emirates.
The UAE is home to 1.2 million Pakistanis and the second largest host to overseas Pakistani workers and source of foreign remittances, after Saudi Arabia.
“UAE and Pakistan are tied in decades of brother ties and the overseas Pakistanis living in the UAE have provided further impetus to the historical and friendly ties between the two states,” Al-Nahyan was quoted as saying in the statement. “Due to the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Abu Dhabi group would further their investments in Pakistan and a new project ... would be started in Pakistan soon. Services of Pakistanis based in the UAE helped the UAE develop into a modern country.”
Afridi conveyed a “special message” to the UAE minister and said ties with the country would be “cemented” further under PM Khan.
Afridi also discussed the issues faced by Pakistanis living in the UAE and requested the minister to play a role in resolving them.
“Sheikh Nahayan bin Mabarak assured Mr.Afridi that the problems faced by Pakistani diaspora in the UAE would be resolved amicably,” the statement said.