Emaar UAEs Pakistan subsidiary is building Crescent Bay in Karachi

Emaar UAE's Pakistan subsidiary is building Crescent Bay in Karachi

There is little doubt in the fact that the UAE and Pakistani economies are increasingly inter-twined. On this very blog, we’ve talked about substantial UAE investments in Pakistan, in particular in real-estate, Banking and Telecommunications. And of course, in one of the most important new projects under construction in Pakistan, the $5BN Khalifa Refinery.

This, however, is the flip side of that story. Economic integration comes when you have a symbiotic relationship. And that’s where Pakistan and the UAE are headed. According to statistics published in The News today, Pakistanis have already invested Rs. 190BN in UAE real-estate, and over 6,000 Pakistani companies are now registered and operating in the United Arab Emirates. A few months ago, we alerted you to Netsol’s (a Pakistani software company) listing on the Dubai Stock Exchange. Looks like there will be a lot more of this happening in future!

Ponder over these numbers… they are substantial, to say the least. And they don’t even account for the hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis working in the UAE for local companies. In fact, remittances by Pakistanis in the the UAE have been on the increase and Pakistani exports to the UAE are over $2BN now.

With Dubai only an hour’s flight from Karachi (shorter than the flight to Lahore!), the UAE is geographically convenient and incredibly well connected. Pakistan is the answer to the UAE’s food security, manpower, technical expertise and defence requirements. The UAE provides Pakistani companies with an excellent international platform, it matches manpower with jobs and can act as a conduit, via its growing stature as a financial hub, to act as a conduit for investment into Pakistan. Stay tuned for more on this trend, but I think the UAE/Pakistan economies may develop so many synergies that, at some point, it may make sense for Pakistan to consider a GCC-like partnership with the UAE.

More from the horse’s mouth (The News):

Pakistanis invest Rs190bn in UAE real estate

DUBAI: Pakistani businessmen have invested about Rs190 billion or more than 8.7 billion dirhams in the real estate sector of United Arab Emirates (UAE).This was stated by the president of Pak UAE Business Council Dubai Iskandar Sultan while welcoming the visiting delegation of FPCCI here at a dinner on Friday.

Pakistani Ambassador in UAE Khursheed Junejo and leading Pakistani businessmen in the Emirates were also present on the occasion.

He said that Pakistan has become the top third investor in the UAE real estate sector.

He said that more than 6,000 Pakistani companies were operating in the Emirates and was greatly contributing to its booming economy.

Leader of the Pakistani delegation Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig on the occasion invited Pakistani companies to invest in Pakistan’s agriculture, dairy farming, energy, telecommunication sectors along with textile city and other projects that offer high return on investment.

Earlier, in the day, Pakistani delegation visited Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and invited investment from UAE businessmen in infrastructure, alternate energy and agriculture.

President Sharjah Chamber, Ahmed Mohammed Al-Midfa in his welcome address said that Pakistan can export more food items to Sharjah and UAE. There is also need for joint ventures in food processing between Pakistani and UAE companies, he added.

He said that Sharjah Chamber delegation can visit Karachi Chamber and discuss these joint ventures.

Dr. Baig pointed out that Pakistan offered investment opportunities to Sharjah based businessmen in corporate farming to produce dairy products, grain and feed for animals as well as fruits and vegetable for export to UAE and other gulf countries.