DUBAI: Pakistan will pursue individual trade deals with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, the prime minister’s adviser for commerce and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood said on Sunday, as talks with the Gulf Cooperation Council remain stalled.
The GCC, which includes those three countries plus Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, started free trade talks with Pakistan in 2004. It has not implemented a free trade deal since 2015.
Dawood told Reuters on Sunday the South Asian nation hoped bilateral negotiations for preferential trade deals with the three Gulf Arab states would start in the next six-12 months.
“We feel it is far better to do individual (deals) at the moment rather than with the GCC as a bloc,” he said in Dubai.
A preferential trade deal typically gives certain products preferential access such as by reducing or removing tariffs.
Dawood said the negotiations would cover a limited number goods and would not be as comprehensive as a free trade agreement, though over time the deals, if secured, could be expanded.
He did not say which goods Pakistan would seek to include.
The UAE announced this month it would seek broad economic agreements covering trade and investments with eight countries, including India, Britain and Turkey but not Pakistan.
Saudi, Emirati and Omani officials could not be immediately reached for comment on the Pakistani official’s comments.
Dawood is in Dubai to assess preparations for Pakistan’s participation at the six-month Expo world fair being held there from next month.
He said Muslim-majority Pakistan would highlight safety and diversity at Expo, which he hoped would lead to an increase in tourists and investments in the South Asian nation.
This month, New Zealand’s cricket team pulled out of an upcoming tour of Pakistan over security concerns.
“We were not expecting something like this to happen and that is the type of perception that we have to overcome,” Dawood said.
Pakistan says seeks preferential trade deals with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman
https://arab.news/275s7
Pakistan says seeks preferential trade deals with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman
- PM’s aide says hopes bilateral negotiations for preferential trade deals with the Gulf states would start in the next six-12 months
- Abdul Razak Dawood is in Dubai to assess preparations for Pakistan’s participation at the six-month Expo world fair
On Qatar’s National Day, Pakistan hails Doha as global ‘emissary of peace’
- PM says Pakistan stood with Qatar after Israeli airstrike, notes Doha backed Islamabad during May conflict with India
- Doha has recently facilitated de-escalation talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan after border clashes this year
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday praised Qatar as one of the region’s most active diplomatic mediators, calling Doha an “emissary of peace” during an address at a ceremony to mark Qatar’s National Day in Islamabad.
Sharif’s remarks come after Qatar led negotiations aimed at easing the Gaza conflict, working with nations like the United States to reach a ceasefire and secure humanitarian pauses and prisoner exchanges. Doha also facilitated de-escalation talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan after border clashes earlier this year, underscoring its growing role as a crisis mediator across the region.
Pakistan has also aligned closely with Qatar in recent months. Sharif visited Doha in a show of solidarity after Israel’s airstrikes on the country in September, while Qatar publicly supported Pakistan during a brief military conflict with India in May, which Islamabad has highlighted as evidence of a deepening two-way partnership.
“Pakistan deeply appreciates Qatar’s distinguished and long-standing role as the emissary of peace, a nation that has repeatedly opened doors for dialogue, helped defuse tensions, and encouraged reconciliation with the noble aim of fostering peace and stability in the region and beyond,” Sharif said during his National Day address.
He described Qatar as a “brotherly country of Pakistan” with “very strong fraternal and friendly relations,” noting that bilateral engagement spans energy security, defense cooperation, trade and investment. More than 150,000 Pakistanis live and work in Qatar, contributing to its economy and remitting income back home, while Qatari investments in Pakistan’s real estate, infrastructure and renewable energy sectors have expanded.
Sharif said he had traveled to Doha twice this year, first to convey Pakistan’s solidarity after the Israeli airstrike on Doha on September 9, 2025, and again for the Arab-Islamic Summit, and stressed that Islamabad stands “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Doha in pursuit of regional stability.
