Pakistan learning from UAE how to become international business hub — President Alvi

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Dr. Arif Alvi said on Sunday Pakistan’s Gwadar and the UAE’s Jebel Ali ports could complement international trade and “make each other stronger,” saying Pakistan was looking to learn from ​the UAE how to become an international business hub and “capitalist paradise.”
The president was speaking to UAE’s state news agency WAM during a two day trip to the emirate in which he inaugurated the Pakistan Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai and met leading UAE investors and heads of major companies and media, as well as interacted with members of the Pakistani diaspora. He also had a meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the vice president and prime minister of the UAE.
In the WAM interview, Alvi said Pakistan could learn from the way the UAE had positioned itself as an investment and trade hub in the world.
“There are two important things that the UAE did, which we are trying to do: it is a safe country, and it established a brick-and-mortar domain in the last 30 to 40 years.
“It said to the investors, ‘Come here, establish factories, there are no taxes, do whatever you want to do, export it.’ People were very glad to do that.
“Pakistan is trying to create another business domain, like the UAE: we have special economic and export zones, where industrial brick-and-mortar investments are being encouraged. We also have a special technology zone authority where people can bring in capital and the government guarantees that you can take the capital out, you can take your profit out, there are no taxes – no income or sales taxes. It is a capitalist paradise.”
Alvi explained how Pakistan’s Gwadar and UAE’s Jebel Ali ports could work together.
Gwadar port in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province is the center stage of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor of over $60 billion in investments in Pakistan, while Dubai’s Jebel Ali is one of the largest and busiest ports in the world.
“Gwadar Port is the closest to central Asia states ... It is an addition to the international trade, it is a different business situation, a different pipeline for goods,” the president said. “[It] will complement the international trade and add to what Jebel Ali is doing, so both ports can make each other stronger.”
The president said Pakistan’s relationship with the UAE had “improved tremendously” over the years.
“Do you know why? Because of mutual trade, the Pakistani diaspora working here, and for the fact that we always want to build new bridges. The foundation is strong; it is based on brotherhood and a common religion, and as the world is looking for peace in this region, the UAE and Pakistan have always sought peace.”
Pakistan was the first country to recognize the UAE as a nation in 1971. Today, the UAE is considered Pakistan’s largest trading partner in the Middle East with bilateral trade amounting to $6 billion, according to latest figures from the embassy of Pakistan in the UAE.