By Hina Haroon
“Along with the friendly relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), of Pakistan, IT, artificial intelligence, healthcare, food products, exhibitions, and international events related to important fields are proving to be an important way to spread Pakistan’s innovation to the world through UAE’s global window centers”.
This was observed by Pakistan’s Ambassador in UAE Faisal Niaz Tirmizi in an interview with an Urdu television channel SUNO NEWS.
“At the moment, the focus of business personalities and companies around the world is on the UAE. It is playing an important role in providing capital and companies to experts in any field and I believe presenting in UAE and getting recognition would help Pakistan to move bigger markets such as Europe and America. UAE is becoming an economic hub for the world along with a modern lifestyle. It is paying attention to the world with its best policies and arrangements. This is becoming a major reason for Pakistan’s growth. In October, Jitex, the largest technology event in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, Pakistan was awarded the title of International Tech Destination. In the coming days, the biggest food exhibition in Dubai is going to be held in which dozens of companies from Pakistan’s food industry are participating”, explained Ambassador Tirmizi while responding to the question of how could Pakistani products reach international markets.
Commenting upon the success story of Pakistan in JITEX, Envoy added that Pakistan’s total exports of IT were 3.5 billion dollars last year and the biggest destination was the United States, then Britain, and in third place was United Arab Emirates. At Jitex, Pakistan was awarded the title of Tech Destination and the stalls and companies of Pakistan were on the central platform and this event helped Pakistan to window its IT products globally. Tirmizi said that he believed that countries develop with their knowledge and Pakistan’s potential is much more than 3.5 billion dollars in IT business.
“We only export $300 million in products to UAE and there is a lot of demand for Pakistan’s technology, Pakistani companies, Pakistani startups, and Pakistani back office support. So there are opportunities for Pakistan to exhibit its talent and they have the opportunity to collaborate with other companies from all over the world, from the United States, Japan, China, and Europe, to collaborate with them and increase Pakistani products through international expos such as JITEX”, explained Ambassador Tirmizi.
The ambassador said that he strongly believed that the UAE is (was) Pakistan’s first stepping stone and after that, the big markets for Pakistan were in Europe and America, therefore, Pakistan has (had) to introduce talent and skills in global arenas.
Talking about the forthcoming Gulf Food Exhibition, he stated that this is the second-largest food exhibition in the world, which starts on February 17 in Dubai. He informed the viewers that 40 companies from Pakistan are participating in this event.
“As you know, in the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan’s major exports are rice, meat, and milk. A new product is becoming very popular in the local market. Milk has become competitive in GCC. Organic ghee (Desi Ghee) has become a new product. So this is a very big opportunity for Pakistani products. Because today’s world is a world of brands. If your brands are established and people trust you, then people buy your products so all Pakistani food products, our natural food products, natural herbs, are also becoming very popular. 40-45 Pakistani companies are participating in this exhibition including Shan Masala, Ahmed Food, Hemani etc. Recently, Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif visited the UAE twice and during his visits, he directed us to provide maximum support to Pakistani businessmen. During his last visit, the Prime Minister met with 72 big Pakistani businesses. The biggest highlight of this visit was the meeting with the President of the UAE, Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It was a very successful visit. As you know, we have a population of 1.8 million in Pakistan. This is our business destination and remittance destination. Pakistan remits 6 to 6.5 billion dollars from here every year. In the last six months, the remittance system has increased by 30%. It was a very short visit (of PM), but there were a lot of meetings”, said Ambassador Faisal Niaz Tirmizi.
