The federal government has constituted a negotiation committee to finalise a deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for handing over its Karachi port terminals to raise emergency funds.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions.
A committee has been formed for commercial agreement between the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and the UAE government, according to the decision.
According to a report, the negotiation committee has also been permitted to finalise a draft operation, maintenance, investment, and development agreement under the government-to-government arrangements with a nominated agency of the UAE for handing over the Karachi port terminals, as shown in the decision.
The negotiation committee set up to finalise a framework agreement will be headed by the Minister for Maritime Affairs, Faisal Sabzwari. The committee members include the additional secretaries of Finance and Foreign Affairs, the special assistant to PM Jehanzeb Khan, the Chairman of the Karachi Port Terminal (KPT), and the general managers of the KPT.
Pakistan aims to reach a deal to hand over the terminals to Abu Dhabi Ports (ADP), a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Ports Group. The UAE government had shown interest in acquiring the Karachi port terminals that were under the administrative control of the Pakistan International Containers Terminals (PICT) last year
