ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar received a congratulatory phone call from his United Arab Emirates (UAE) counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday.
During the conversation, the two foreign ministers discussed the sustained pace of multi-level cooperation between the two countries, FM Dar wrote on his X timeline.
“I look forward to working closely with His Highness in transforming bilateral relations with the UAE into a mutually beneficial economic partnership,” he added.
After the new government was formed, Ishaq Dar was inducted into the federal cabinet headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on 11 March, in which the portfolio of foreign affairs minister was handed over to a senior politician.
Dar was a member of the Senate from 2003 to 2022. He previously served as Minister of Finance from 1998 to 1999, then from March to May 2008.
Dar again led the Ministry of Finance from 2013 to 2017 and then from 2022 to 2023. He was also Minister of Industry and Investment from February 1997 to July 1997 and Minister of Trade from December 1997 to October 1999. Previously, Dar was appointed as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from March 2012 to June 2013.
In January 2023, the UAE pledged another $1 billion loan to Pakistan, which is facing a severe economic crisis, and also agreed to extend an existing $2 billion loan.
The UAE is also Pakistan’s largest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with an average annual trade of US$8 billion, with food and textiles as the main items to the Gulf country, while bilateral trade grew by 25.4 % in 2021-22 at USD 10.6 billion.
