UAE values ties with Pakistan: envoy

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Essa Abdullah Al Basha Al Noaimi has spoken of close ties between Pakistan and the UAE while addressing Iftar dinner that he hosted here Monday at a hotel. 

Federal Ministers Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Pir Amin el Hasnat Shah, National Security Advisor (NSA) General (R) Nasser Khan Janjua and Secretary Foreign Office Ghalib Iqbal and Additional Foreign Secretary Tasawwar Khan represented the government. 

The first pilot of the Emirates Air Lines, Capt Afzal Ghani, Major Muhammad Aamer, Maulana Tahir Ashrafi and former deputy speaker National Assembly Faisal Karim Khan Kundi were among the distinguished guests. 

Ambassador Essa applauded the close relationship between Pakistan and his country. He eulogised the achievements made by the two countries in the field of bilateral relations and assistance provided by the UAE. While talking about the achievements, ambassador Essa said that completion of the UAE-Pakistan Military Hospital in CMH Rawalpindi which equipped with the latest state of the art facilities and sixteen operation theaters with the expectation of six million patients a year. 

“NO doubt it will be mark of the health services in the twin cities Islamabad and Rawalpindi.” The ambassador expressed his gratitude to the UAE-Pakistan assistance programme team and officials and engineers of Pakistan Army because without their dedicated efforts this wasn’t possible. 

He said that 31 million children have been vaccinated in campaign against polio in KP, Fata and Sindh. Ambassador Essa reminded that the UAE companies and UAE-Pakistan joint companies also supported in developing the economic relations. 

“Let us not forget the great positive role played by national flag career in both countries,” he said. He also referred to presence of Captain Afzal Ghani, the first pilot of the Emirate Airline and captain of first flight between Dubai and Karachi in 1985. The elite of the twin-cities attended the iftar-dinner in impressive number. The guests kept on discussing the situation in the Gulf region and political developments back in Pakistan. The role of the JIT appointed by the Supreme Court in so-called PanamaLeakes was also among the hot topics of gossip in the Iftar dinner.