KARACHI – Ambassador of United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Pakistan, Hamad ObaidAlzaabi on Friday said that UAE Embassy will open a visa centre in Karachi,which will become operational in the first week of September 2019 and willhave facilities.
Another visa centre will also become functional in Islamabad in the firstweek of October 2019, UAE diplomat informed during his meeting with membersof Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), here at the Chamber,said a KCCI press release.
“Everything will be here including the medical insurance, check-ups and thecontracts et cetera to facilitate visa issuance from the visa centre inKarachi, which will be the biggest visa centre of Asia while the entireteam for this Visa Center at Khayaban-e-Shamsheer in Defence HousingAuthority area of Karachi will come from UAE,” he said.
He said that UAE was offering Silver Investment Visa for 5 years and GoldenInvestment Visa for 10 years, which were being issued under specificcriteria and depended on the size of a company and also the amount beinginvested.
Deputy Consul General of UAE to Karachi, Bakheet Ateeq Alremeithiaccompanied the Ambassador. Chairman Businessmen Group in KCCI and formerpresident KCCI Siraj Kassam Teli, KCCI President Junaid Esmail Makda,Senior Vice President Khurram Shahzad, Vice President Asif Sheikh Javaidand the Managing Committee members were also present.
Expressing gratitude to KCCI for extending warm hospitality on his visit toKCCI, UAE Ambassador said he had visited many areas of Pakistan includingFaisalabad, Sialkot, Lahore, Peshawar, South Waziristan and Quetta, but inKarachi social life, atmosphere, culture and people were different fromthose of other cities including Islamabad.
UAE envoy stated that relations between Pakistan and UAE had always beenvery strong and historical but there was a need to explore new potentialavenues for promotion of trade and investment.
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The governments of the UAE and Pakistan were working very hard to narrowthe gap and find opportunities, chances and potential for trade andinvestment, he said adding, “We are trying to find new areas of cooperationwhere we could work together and also examine the challenging areas so thatthese could be addressed by the authorities in UAE. Inshallah, we will putour hands together to move forward in the future.”
He stressed the need for having a legal framework between UAE and Pakistanto encourage and save investments made either in Pakistan or in UAE.
Supporting to President KCCI’s suggestion of signing a memorandum ofunderstanding between KCCI and UAE Chamber, he said it was really importantso that a framework could be defined because when there were a gap and noofficial visits, the business communities and Chambers of Commerce simplywould have no idea about the business potential in Pakistan and UAE.
“Any suggestion from Karachi Chamber, which pertains to signing MoUs,agreements, workshops, conferences and seminars will certainly be takeninto consideration,” he assured.
