ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will arrive in Islamabad on Thursday on a day-long visit “to further strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two brotherly countries”.
According to a statement by the UAE Ambassador in Islamabad, during the visit, the crown prince will hold a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan “to discuss the ways to enhance bilateral relations between the two countries”.
In addition, views on “matters of mutual interest and the regional and global situation” will also be discussed.
The crown prince had last visited Pakistan on January 6 in 2019, just weeks after his country offered $3 billion to support Pakistan’s battered economy.
His visit, which is part of growing exchanges between Pakistan and Arab countries, takes place less than a week after Emirati Minister for Tolerance Sheikh Nahyan bin Mabarak Al-Nahyan met the premier and President Arif Alvi to discuss possibilities of expanding bilateral ties.
Prior to that, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud had toured Islamabad and Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan had also visited Pakistan.
PM Imran had visited Saudi Arabia, while Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Bajwa had travelled to Abu Dhabi on December 14.
The prime minister held consultations with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman covering bilateral matters and regional developments. General Bajwa had meanwhile called on the Abu Dhabi crown prince. The two discussed “regional security environment and matters of mutual interest”.
The premier’s visit to Riyadh had followed a trip to Bahrain where he was awarded the country’s highest civilian honour.
PAKISTAN SKIPS KL SUMMIT:
The visit comes weeks after Pakistan skipped the much-trumpeted Kuala Lumpur Summit in December last year.
Pakistan was one of the first countries with whom Prime Minister Mahathir shared his plans for holding the summit when he had met Prime Minister Imran along with President Erdogan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York in September last year. Later on, PM Imran had formally conveyed his acceptance of the invitation for attending the summit when Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Bin Haji Yahya had called on him in Islamabad in November.
However, clouds of uncertainty started to loom over Pakistan’s presence at the summit when PM Imran went on a hurried tour to the kingdom on December 15, just three days before the event. A day earlier, COAS Bajwa had visited Abu Dhabi where he called on Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan.
Subsequently, on December 17, the government had formally announced that it would not attend the event “at any level”. In a media talk, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had confirmed that Saudi Arabia and the UAE were “worried that the event could cause ‘division in Ummah‘ and lead to setting up of an organisation parallel to the existing Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)”. It merits a mention here that the OIC is under the influence of mega-rich kingdom.
