ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reached the United Arab Emirates with a high-level delegation on Thursday to discuss trade and bilateral relations, as Pakistan seeks foreign investment while navigating a challenging path to economic recovery.
Sharif’s visit comes amid a flurry of high-level engagements in recent weeks, with business and diplomatic delegations from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Japan and Uzbekistan arriving in Pakistan to explore investment opportunities in the country’s key economic sectors.
Reeling from high inflation, low forex reserves, and an unstable currency, the prime minister has vowed to steer Pakistan out of its prolonged economic crisis by enhancing bilateral trade with allies and attracting more international investment.
“Just arrived in the UAE on a short but important visit,” the prime minister said in a social media post. “Looking forward to a fruitful exchange of views with the UAE leadership with a view to deepen the historic and brotherly PAK-UAE ties.”

 Sharif is scheduled to meet UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi and interact with other senior officials, businesspersons and heads of financial institutions.
“The Prime Minister’s visit marks the beginning of a new era in the longstanding fraternal relations between Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates,” said an official statement released by his office earlier in the day. “His [planned] meetings with top Emirati leadership and business fraternity reflect the government’s diplomatic successes and the growing trend of investments by friendly countries in Pakistan.”
The country’s foreign office said in a statement announcing Sharif’s visit that it would have a “special focus on trade and investment.”
The UAE is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner, after China and the United States. Policymakers in Pakistan consider the Gulf state an optimal export destination due to its geographical proximity, which minimizes transportation and freight costs while facilitating commercial transactions.
The UAE is also home to more than a million Pakistani expatriates and the second-largest source of remittances to the South Asian country, after Saudi Arabia.