Times Square in Lahore: Hydra of Abu Dhabi teams up with DHA Lahore on $1.4B project

A preliminary design shows Lahore's upcoming Times Square - 17 skyscrapers between 29 and 42 stories tall!

Let the good times roll! The KSE is rocketing north once more, foreign exchange remittances by Pakistanis abroad are hitting all time highs and property deals are happening left, right and center. The Pakistani economy is booming, baby!

I was thrilled to see a recent announcement by the much respected Defence Housing Authority, Lahore, concerning their partnering with the now-famous UAE based property development group, Hydra. They are embarking on a massive undertaking that will contribute positively to Lahore’s rapid development, and to jobs and economic opportunities in the city.

6,000 Pakistani companies operating in the UAE. Pakistanis have invested 6.7B Dirhams in Dubai real estate.

Emaar UAE's Pakistan subsidiary is building Crescent Bay in Karachi

There is little doubt in the fact that the UAE and Pakistani economies are increasingly inter-twined. On this very blog, we’ve talked about substantial UAE investments in Pakistan, in particular in real-estate, Banking and Telecommunications. And of course, in one of the most important new projects under construction in Pakistan, the $5BN Khalifa Refinery.

This, however, is the flip side of that story. Economic integration comes when you have a symbiotic relationship. And that’s where Pakistan and the UAE are headed. According to statistics published in The News today, Pakistanis have already invested Rs. 190BN in UAE real-estate, and over 6,000 Pakistani companies are now registered and operating in the United Arab Emirates. A few months ago, we alerted you to Netsol’s (a Pakistani software company) listing on the Dubai Stock Exchange. Looks like there will be a lot more of this happening in future!

Pakistani exports to UAE rise to $1.8B – Software growing fast

A rapidly growing Dubai is increasingly using Pakistani software

Mansour Bajwa, Commercial Counselor for Pakistan in Dubai, was quoted in this story highlighting the rapid growth in exports from Pakistan to the UAE. “Pakistan is also increasing exports of [..] IT software products, particularly to the UAE“, he said. Pakistani software shops have been developing solutions for UAE companies for many years now, but perhaps an even greater contributor of Forex receipts is the large Pakistani IT diaspora at work in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It’s not a stretch to say that Pakistanis play a – perhaps the - pivotal role in the UAE’s IT industry.

Back in 2007, Pakistan exported about $1.2B worth of goods and services to the UAE, and so the $600M increase in just one year represents growth of 50% YoY. Given the UAE’s own explosive growth, the potential for Pakistan exports to the Emirates as well as the GCC countries, appears limitless. More from the story after the fold.

Netsol lists on Dubai Stock Exchange

Starting what could become a trend amongst other Pakistani tech companies, Netsol has been approved for a dual listing on the Dubai Stock Exchange (DIFX) under the symbol, NTWK. This is the same symbol the company uses for trading on the Nasdaq (US). Saleem Ghauri, the CEO of Netsol, believes this move will allow the company to broaden its investor base; we certainly agree. A Netsol subsidiary is already traded on the Karachi Stock Exchange as well. Seems like Netsol is broadly diversified, especially for the relatively small capitalization it has currently.

The net-result of the Dubai listing remains to be seen, but it is well known that the management of the Dubai bourse has been very keen to get foreign stocks listed. They will probably exhaust all possibilities to ensure that the first few companies that make the move become ‘lighthouse’ symbols and do very well. And hey, what’s a few dozen million for the country that has the world’s largest sovereign fund? Yes, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE now has a sovereign fund managing in excess of $1 Trillion (correct, One Trillion with a T) dollars.

Let’s see what the future holds for NTWK on the Dubai bourse! We predict it’s going to be good.