Both officials discuss ways to further strengthen cooperation between the two brotherly countries
TLTP
ISLAMABAD
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi arrived in Dubai on Thursday on a two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
According to a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan’s Consul General in Dubai Ahmed Amjad Ali, senior officers of the embassy, and senior officials from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs received the Foreign Minister at Dubai International Airport.
During the visit, the foreign minister will hold discussions with the UAE leadership on all areas of mutual interest, including regional and global issues. He will also exchange views on bilateral cooperation, in particular trade, investment and the welfare of Pakistani diaspora. He will also meet Pakistani diaspora and interact with local and international media.
This visit of the foreign minister is a continuity of promotion of contacts between the two countries at higher level.
“The UAE is home to the second-largest Pakistani community abroad. Pakistan and the UAE enjoy historic fraternal relations, rooted firmly in shared history, common faith, values and mutual respect,” said the statement.
“High-level visits are an important feature, which not only exhibits cordial ties between the two countries but also accords the leadership an opportunity to give further impetus to strengthening bilateral cooperation on a wide range of issues,” read the statement. The development comes weeks after the UAE stopped issuing new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim-majority countries including Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria.
Since the Gulf country has not publicly given any reason for the ban, at the time FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri had said that it could be related to the existing pandemic.
“We understand that these restrictions only apply to visit visas and not to the renewal of existing visas. We are in touch with the UAE authorities both in Abu Dhabi and Islamabad,” he had maintained during a weekly press briefing.
