ISLAMABAD, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and the Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, will visit to Pakistan on May 30, a foreign office statement said on Monday.

    He had last visited Pakistan in 2002 for a private hunting trip, the statement said.

    "The visit of the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai to Pakistan would further consolidate the bonds of friendship between the two countries, which Pakistan greatly values," it said.

    Al-Maktoum will hold official talks with the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and will also call on President General Pervez Musharraf.

    The UAE has become the largest investor in Pakistan after making a successful bid for the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), the statement said.

    Other UAE investments in Pakistan are in the fields of airlines, financial business, real estate and tractors. Trade between the two countries totaled 2.78 billion U.S. dollars last year, with the balance in favor of the UAE due to Pakistan's import of oil and oil products.

    For the strengthening of bilateral economic relations, the Pakistan-UAE Joint Ministerial Commission was set up in 1974, which has so far held eight consultative meetings.

    The ninth JMC session is expected to be held in Islamabad in 2006.

    About 400,000 Pakistanis are presently living and working in the UAE who are a source of strength for the Pakistan-UAE relations. Last year, the Pakistani expatriates had remitted well over half a billion dollars to Pakistan. Enditem