The UAE (United Arab Emirates) has quietly reached out to Pakistan seeking re-engagement, journalist Kamran Yousaf has claimed in a post on X.
Yousaf wrote in the post that the move came after Emirati decision-makers concluded that Pakistan was too important a country to be on the wrong side of. He added that Abu Dhabi’s policy had also shifted on the Iran-US conflict, with the UAE now favouring diplomacy over its earlier stance.
The development comes weeks after Pakistan completed the repayment of $3.45 billion in deposits to the UAE, a move that had sparked speculation about a fallout between Islamabad and Abu Dhabi.
The Foreign Office (FO) rejected what it termed “misleading and unfounded commentary” regarding the deposits, saying the matter was a “routine transaction”.
“This completes the repayment of total deposits of $3.45 billion to UAE,” the central bank added.
The funds were part of external financing support extended by the UAE in 2019 to help stabilise Pakistan’s balance of payments. A senior official described the repayment as a cost the country was willing to bear to uphold “national dignity”, even as it drew down foreign exchange reserves.
In March, Islamabad had failed to secure an agreement with the UAE to roll over the $3.5 billion facility the first such failure in seven years raising concerns about near-term financing gaps.
Pakistan’s foreign reserves stood at $20.63 billion as of April 17. During the same period, Pakistan also received a $3 billion deposit from Saudi Arabia in two tranches, with the second tranche of $1 billion received on April 21.
