Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: UAE President HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s one-day visit to Islamabad — scheduled for yesterday — has been post-poned due to bad weather conditions, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Monday.
“Due to weather conditions, President HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to the friendly Islamic Republic of Pakistan scheduled for today has been postponed to a later date,” a PMO statement said Monday. The Emirati president had arrived in Pakistan on January 25 on a private visit. On Monday, Al-Nahyan was scheduled to pay a visit to Islamabad to discuss friendship and cooperation between the Gulf state and Pakistan and ways to enhance them in various fields.
However, the PMO statement said that the visit to the capital will now be rescheduled, adding that the new dates will be announced soon. It stated that the UAE president contacted PM Shehbaz and expressed his dismay at the postponement. In his response, the premier said that the “guest’s safety and protection were dearer to him and a risk could not be taken in extreme weather conditions”. Al-Nahyan assured PM Shehbaz he would soon visit Islamabad on a two-day visit.
Earlier, the prime minister along with Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, caretaker Punjab CM Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi and Special As-sistant to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi received United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on his arrival at Chandna Airport in Rahim Yar Khan.
During their interaction, the prime minister recalled his recent visit to the UAE and emphasised that both countries would work on the understand-ing reached between the two leaders during that visit.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who arrived in Pakistan on a pri-vate visit, said the brotherly relations between the two countries went back many decades and his father, who had immense love for Pakistan and its people, laid the foundation of their bilateral ties. The UAE president said that he considered Pakistan his second home and assured the premier that the UAE would always stand by the country.
