Abu Dhabi Crown Prince meets PM Imran on day-long visit to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces, met Prime Minister Imran Khan on a day-long visit to Pakistan on Sunday.

The two sides discussed bilateral relations and matters of mutual, regional and international interests.

The information minister said the UAE has already announced an aid of three billion dollars while the provision to provide deferred payment for oil facility was finalised.

After the visit, the UAE crown prince left for his home country after the brief visit.

The Pakistan delegation included Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Finance Minister Asad Umar, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi and Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua.

The UAE delegation was led by Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier welcomed the dignitary upon his arrival at Nur Khan Airbase. A guard of honour was accorded to the crown prince as he disembarked from the jet, followed by a 21 gun salute. 

An official welcome ceremony was held at Prime Minister House, Islamabad in honour of the crown prince. A smartly turned out contingent of Pakistan Armed Forces presented a guard of honour to him while the JF 17 Thunder presented a salute to the crown prince.

The national anthems of both the countries were also played on the occasion.

The crown prince was also introduced to members of PM Imran's federal cabinet. He in turn introduced his delegation to the prime minister.

Fawad rubbishes reports UAE prince stayed for two hours only

Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter to rebut claims that the UAE prince stayed in the country for only two hours.

"UAE crown prince has been in Pakistan since three days and left for UAE from Islamabad today," he said.

Fawad said that due research should be carried out before a story, especially about UAE, which has provided much-needed financial help to Pakistan.

This was the third interaction between the leadership of Pakistan and UAE in less than three months. UAE is Pakistan’s largest trading partner in the Middle East and a major source of investments. It is home to more than 1.6 million expatriate community which contributes around $4.5 billion annually to the GDP, a press release said earlier. 

Pakistan and UAE are already working closely to transform the existing special relations into a “Long-Term Strategic Economic Partnership”, as agreed between the two leaders during the prime minister’s visit to UAE on November 18.

UAE had earlier pledged $3 billion to support Pakistan overcome its balance of payment crisis.

Sources reported on Friday that Pakistan is likely to get oil worth $3.2 billion on deferred payments from UAE this month.

Further, sources in the Petroleum Division said the crown prince is expected to announce the facility for Pakistan during his visit to the country.

Sources added that Pakistan is also likely to get $1.5 billion loan from Islamic Development Bank's International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on deferred payment facility.

Currently, Pakistan is importing LNG worth $4.5 billion annually.