DUBAI: UAE government has shown interest to invest over $260 billion in Balochistan’s Reko Diq project.
Pakistan’s Ambassador, Asif Durrani, said that work on the Reko Diq project would start soon. “There is an arbitration going on. It is another project in which interest has been shown by friendly countries to invest in. The UAE has also shown interest saying they would like to invest in the project,” he said.
Reko Diq project has been delayed due to exploration and extraction of licensing issue. Licences of these mines were given to Tethyan Copper Company (TCC). In 2011, Balochistan government cancelled the contract of TCC and now TCC has claimed for damages in the International Court of Justice.
Referring to UAE-Pakistan economic relations, the ambassador said the host country was the largest trading partner in the Gulf and Mena regions.
“Out of $19 billion trade in the Gulf region, our trade with the UAE is $9 billion. So this balance of trade is in UAE’s favour. We have $7 billion exports from the UAE, mostly oil but also we have other materials such as aluminum and machineries,” he explained. About exports from Pakistan, Durrani said it was $2.3 billion exports to UAE, mostly in foodstuff with rice being the major product, which is close to $300 million.
“The other exports include perishable fresh fruits and vegetables also valued at close to another $300 million. We also have light engineering products exported to UAE,” he said. According to him these were last year’s trade exchange figures. About this year the ambassador said: “This year we hope the trade will further grow. Compared to last year, in the last two to three months we have seen an increase in the exports of fruits and vegetables with better packaging and properly waxed. So this year we expect a growth of $100 million to $150 million in fresh fruits and vegetables exports.
“We see the UAE as the economic hub of the entire Mena region. It is now emerging trade centre, and we are looking to benefit from the UAE’s strategic location for our exports to the region.”
Another major economic contribution from the UAE, he added was the remittances from Pakistani community members, which is $3 billion annually. About havala system for remittances, he said it has not totally eradicated but still there. He said: “In fact I would say that Pakistani government is considering how fast the banking system could provide remittance services, and how the banking system could access the remote areas.”
About Pakistan’s energy requirement, he said it was 4bmcf and the country needs more to fulfill this through projects like Tapi (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-Indian) pipeline project and supplies from Iran and Qatar.
