The newly formed Pakistan Business Council (PBC) at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry seeks to expand Pakistan’s bilateral trade volume with the UAE to $40 billion within three fiscal years, according to the council’s president this week.
The UAE, Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States, is viewed as a suitable export destination by Islamabad due to its geographical proximity, which lowers transportation and freight costs and facilitates economic transactions.
The UAE is home to over a million Pakistani expatriates and stands as the second-largest source of remittances to Pakistan, following Saudi Arabia.
The non-oil international trade value between the two nations reached AED 25.7 billion ($6.97 billion) in 2022, up 30% from AED 19.8 billion ($5.45 billion) in 2021, according to the Pakistan embassy in the United Arab Emirates.
Pakistan’s ambassador to the UAE, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, praised the Sharjah Chamber for its creative efforts in establishing the council and for its ongoing assistance to business owners earlier this week at the opening ceremony.
