ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Business Council Dubai on Wednesday said it aims to strengthen existing relations between Islamabad and Abu Dhabi through collaborative efforts in trade, investment and cultural exchanges, a statement from the Pakistan Consulate General in Dubai said.
The UAE is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States, and a major source of foreign investment valued at over $10 billion in the last 20 years, according to the UAE foreign ministry.
It is also home to more than a million Pakistani expatriates. Policymakers in Pakistan consider the UAE an optimal export destination due to its geographical proximity, which minimizes transportation and freight costs while facilitating commercial transactions.
Hussain Muhammad, the consul general of Pakistan in Dubai, met the new board members of the PBC Dubai at the Consulate General of Pakistan. Shabbir Merchant, the PBC Dubai chairman, shared the council’s strategic roadmap for 2025-2026.
“Mr. Merchant stated that PBC aims to strengthen the relationship between Pakistan and UAE through collaborative efforts in trade, investment and cultural exchanges,” the Pakistan Consulate General said. “He added that the Council is committed to avail opportunities for mutual growth and foster a deeper connection between the two nations.”
Muhammad appreciated PBC’s efforts in promoting Pakistan’s economic potential in the UAE, the statement said, adding that the Pakistani consul general also encouraged them to take concrete steps toward enhancing bilateral trade and investment between the two countries.
“The Consul General emphasized the need for business leaders to explore opportunities in Pakistan’s diverse sectors, including IT, manufacturing, agriculture and tourism,” the statement said.
“He said that Pakistan offers immense potential for investment and trade, with Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) established as a single window to facilitate investors.”
The SIFC is a hybrid civil-military body formed in June 2023 to attract international investment, particularly from Gulf countries, in Pakistan’s key economic sectors such as tourism, mining and minerals, agriculture and livestock.
Hussain urged the PBC to act as a bridge for creating new partnerships and expanding existing ones.
Pakistan and UAE have stepped up efforts in recent years to strengthen their business and investment relations. In January 2023, Pakistan and the UAE signed multiple agreements worth more than $3 billion for cooperation in railways, economic zones and infrastructure, a Pakistani official said, amid Pakistani caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar’s visit to Davos for the World Economic Forum’s summit.
Pakistan Business Council calls for collaborative efforts with UAE in investment, cultural exchanges
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Pakistan Business Council calls for collaborative efforts with UAE in investment, cultural exchanges
- UAE is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and US, and a major source of foreign investment
- Pakistan consul general in Dubai urges business leaders to explore opportunities in IT, agriculture and tourism
UN says 270,000 Afghans have returned from Iran, Pakistan this year
- UNHCR says 110,000 Afghans returned from Iran while 160,000 returned from Pakistan since start of 2026
- Return numbers seem to have risen since Gulf war erupted on Feb. 28, says UNHCR official in Afghanistan
GENEVA: Some 270,000 Afghans have returned to their country from Pakistan and Iran so far this year, the UN said Tuesday, warning that the escalating Middle East war risked pushing the numbers higher.
UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, said that 110,000 Afghans had returned from Iran and another 160,000 had returned from Pakistan since the start of 2026.
And the numbers seem to have risen since the Middle East erupted on February 28, with the United States and Israel unleashing a barrage of strikes on Iran, and Tehran responding with drone and missile strikes on Israeli and US interests across the region.
Since then, there have been some 1,700 returns from Iran to Afghanistan each day, Arafat Jamal, UNHCR’s representative in Afghanistan, told reporters in Geneva.
Speaking from Islam Qala, on the Afghan-Iranian border, he said the situation there was “deceptively calm.”
“Returns are orderly but freighted with tension and apprehension,” he said, adding that with the hostilities elsewhere escalating, “I do fear there is more to come.”
“We are preparing for massive returns.”
He pointed out that Afghanistan was “facing the ramifications of what is happening with Iran,” while clashes have erupted along the Afghan border with Pakistan.
The new Middle East war, he warned, was “layering itself on top of an existing war on another frontier,” Jamal said.
UNHCR highlighted that the latest crises came after returns to Afghanistan had already been “exceptionally high” in recent years.
More than five million Afghans had returned from neighboring countries in the past two years, including 1.9 million returning from Iran last year alone.
Jamal warned that “many Afghan families are now facing cycles of displacement: first forced to flee Afghanistan, later displaced again inside Iran due to conflict, and now returning once more to Afghanistan.”
“And upon return in Afghanistan, the triply-displaced enter a spiral of precarity and uncertainty.”
Returns from Pakistan had meanwhile stabilized in recent weeks, as the main crossing point at Torkham remained closed due to the tensions there, Jamal said.
But he warned that “movements could increase sharply once the border reopens.”
UNHCR and the UN children’s agency UNICEF said Tuesday they were working to strengthen their capacity to operate at the borders and within Afghanistan.
But “given the scale of returns and the financial constraints facing humanitarian operations, additional support will be needed if arrivals increase,” UNHCR said, without specifying the amount needed.
