‘Pakistan needs exports boost’

KARACHI: Pakistan needs to increase its exports and minimise bilateral trade deficits, especially with the UAE, Fakhruddin Diwan, chairman of the Pak-UAE Business Council, said on Friday.

He was of the view that the government should request the UAE to facilitate Pakistani exports to the Emirates and establish industrial joint ventures, as Pakistan’s trade deficit with the UAE has reached $6 billion.

“It will help Pakistan a great deal on a sustainable basis in terms of bridging the trade deficit; support economic growth, and create employment opportunities locally in the labour-intensive industries,” Diwan said.

He specifically appreciated an active role played by H.E Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi, Consul General of UAE, in forging people-to-people and business-to-business relations between the two brotherly countries. Diwan apprised that the UAE had always been supportive of Dawoodi Bohra community’s business, trade and commercial endeavors in the UAE.

The chairman of Pak-UAE Business Council highlighted a friendly role of the UAE in the aftermath of floods in Pakistan last year. He also hailed the Emirates for providing employment opportunities to Pakistani skilled and semi-skilled workforce, supporting Pakistan on international forums, and strategically and decisively siding with Pakistan in all times of economic crises.