ISLAMABAD: Emirati businessman Suhail Galadari pledged to donate Rs10 million ($60,000) to help repatriate Pakistani nationals stranded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amid coronavirus shutdowns, the prime minister’s special assistant on overseas Pakistanis confirmed to Arab News on Sunday.
Galadari is a co-chairman of Galadari Brothers, an Emirati conglomerate with a portfolio including stakes in the sectors of construction, hospitality and media. The group owns UAE’s English-language newspaper the Khaleej Times.
After pledging Rs10 mln to repatriate #Pakistanis stranded in the #UAE, #Emirati business tycoon, @SuhailGaladari7 plans to help boost Pakistan's #tourism says PM #ImranKhan's special aide @sayedzbukhari to #ArabNewsPk || @mophrd @ptdcpk
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Read: https://t.co/C1gZbkteQ2 pic.twitter.com/EnaIG4pUco— Arab News Pakistan (@arabnewspk) July 27, 2020
“I have the utmost gratitude for him (Galadari) to donate Rs10 million to help those people that will be repatriated back to Pakistan,” the prime minister’s aide, Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, told Arab News.
Galadari made the commitment during a meeting with Bukhari in Dubai on Saturday. He also announced plans to invest in Pakistan’s tourism sector.
“It’s wonderful news for us that the Galadari family who are pioneers in Dubai and the UAE in five-star hotels are looking to venture into Pakistan,” Bukhari said, “We hope to welcome them with open arms and hope that the Pakistani government and Galadari family can work closely together so that we can use their expertise and investment to promote five-star tourism in Pakistan as it has some of the most beautiful diverse landscapes in the world.”
Bukhari was on an official visit to the UAE to discuss with Emirati officials the situation of Pakistani workers in the Gulf state’s post-COVID-19 labor market.
On Thursday, he met with Human Resources and Emiratization Minister Nasser bin Thani Al-Hamli to discuss issues related to Pakistanis residing in the Emirates.
“We also discussed the availability of jobs for Pakistanis in UAE,” Bukhari said in a press conference after the meeting, adding that since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, around 36,000 Pakistanis in the UAE had been laid off and were returning home.
