Islamabad: Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for exchanging knowledge and expertise in diverse spheres of development.

The MoU was signed by Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal and UAE's visiting Deputy Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Competitiveness and Knowledge Exchange Abdullah Nasser Lootah in Islamabad on Monday.

The fields identified for sharing knowledge and guidance include good governance, development planning, public sector reforms, human resource development, urban planning and science and technology.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif witnessed the signing ceremony.

Earlier, the visiting high-level UAE delegation led by Abdullah Nasser Lootah called on the Prime Minister.

On the occasion, the Prime Minister recalled his meeting with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during his visit to Abu Dhabi, and said the UAE played an important role in defusing tensions between Pakistan and India.

Mentioning the government's initiatives for good governance, Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan has taken steps for digitization, paperless economy, faceless customs system and data based decision making.

He appreciated the UAE's positioning itself among the developed countries through modern management system and said Pakistan wants to benefit from UAE's experiences to make its initiatives more effective.

The UAE Minister lauded the role of Pakistani community in the development of his country. He said the UAE is happy to share knowledge and experiences with Pakistan.