Pakistan's Minister of Information & Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry Visits PAD (Jan 2022)

Pakistan Association Dubai (PAD) was honoured to welcome Mr Fawad Chaudhry – Pakistan’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting to our premises on Saturday, January 22nd for a tour of our state-of-the-art complex. This was the first visit by any minister or senior member of the Pakistan Government. Mr Fawad Chaudhry was incredibly delighted to witness firsthand the exceptional efforts of the Pakistani community in the UAE in raising the world’s largest community centre for overseas Pakistanis.
Built by the people and built for the people, our complex – which houses seminar rooms, prayer rooms, meeting rooms, the Brick Café, Shahid Afridi Health and Fitness Centre and the Pakistan Medical Centre (PMC) – is a true representation of the Pakistani community’s resolve to create a tolerant and inclusive society.

It brings us great pride to have cultivated a space for all communities to connect and inspire together and to have also served over 50 nationalities through the platform of Pakistan Medical Centre.

Present at the occasion, PAD President, Dr Faisel Ikram warmly appreciated and welcomed Mr Fawad Chaudhry for being the first Pakistan Government official to visit our new complex. “We are honoured and thankful to Mr Fawad Chaudhry for taking the time out to pay us a visit. This centre truly reflects the strength of our community, and our values of compassion and coexistence as this facility [PMC] has served 52 nationalities in the UAE since its opening – which is a real badge of honour and pride for us,” said Dr Ikram.

Dr Faisel also remarked that PAD would continue working for community welfare and for the prosperity of Pakistan. “As overseas Pakistanis, we are hopeful that the Pakistan Government will support this incredible achievement and it would be a moment of pride for us to have this complex formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Imran Khan himself,” concluded President PAD.

Mr Fawad Chaudhry took the opportunity to commend the PAD team’s efforts in facilitating a project of such stature. He highlighted the role of the present government in working for the rights of Overseas Pakistanis and acknowledged the contributions of Gulf Pakistani expatriates towards the country in the form of remittances. He said, “I am extremely happy and delighted to see a project of this kind built by our very own community. Prime Minister Imran Khan deeply values the role that Overseas Pakistanis play in the growth of our economy, and especially Pakistani expatriates in the UAE who have the greatest share in foreign remittances. We consider them to be a great asset to our country.”

Mr Fawad vowed to continue supporting Overseas Pakistanis and heralded PAD as a leader in building a model for social cohesion. “We are constantly working for the rights of Overseas Pakistanis and have plans to provide them with more resoruces to facilitate their needs. I congratulate you for creating this wonderful facility and running it with great passion and dedication. This is an exemplary model for other communities to replicate and is a great reflection of the wonders of working together towards a shared goal,” remarked Mr Fawad Chaudhry, Minister of Information and Broadcasting of Pakistan.

The discussion included distinguished members of the community such as Mr Irfan Mustafa, Mr Mumtaz Muslim and Chairman PMC Dr Zia Ul Hasan amongst others. An interactive Q&A session also followed the discussion to exchange valuable insights for the benefit of our community at large.