Source: Daily Times

President Asif Ali Zardari and UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan resolved on Monday to boost bilateral ties particularly in trade and investment.

Zardari, who arrived in the UAE capital on Monday, held wide-ranging talks with the UAE president, focusing on developing strategic and economic partnership between the UAE and Pakistan.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Finance Adviser Shaukat Tareen, Interior Advisor Rehman Malik, Board of Investment Chairman Saleem H Mandviwalla and Ambassador-at-large Javed Malik assisted Zardari in the delegation-level talks. Members of the UAE cabinet accompanied Al Nahyan. Zardari and Al Nahyan also held a one-on-one meeting.

Investment: The delegations agreed on encouraging private and public investment from the UAE in energy, agriculture, construction and infrastructure development joint ventures.

Security: The two leaders discussed the security situation in the region and stressed the combined efforts to ensure peace and development in the region.

Zardari said world peace required increased international co-ordination. “With the world having turned into a global village, no one can remain indifferent [to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq],” he said.

Zardari thanked the UAE for its support to Pakistan in the recent meeting of the Friends of Pakistan forum in Dubai and financial assistance in the time of an economic crisis.

The two leaders also recalled the farewell meeting between Benazir Bhutto and Al Nahyan when she left the UAE for Pakistan last year to participate in the general elections.

Interior Adviser Rehman Malik called the visit ‘very successful’, citing the UAE president’s rare gesture of receiving Zardari at the airport and making a courtesy call after the official talks.

Power plant: Rehman Malik said Zardari expressed during the talks Pakistan’s need for the early transport of a 400-megawatt power plant that the UAE government has offered to Pakistan. Later on Monday, Zardari met chief executives of the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and Etisalat separately . agencies

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Tags: bilateral ties, President Asif Ali Zardari, UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan