High-level Saudi business delegation arrives in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A delegation of Saudi Arabia’s investors, led by Minister of Investment Khalid bin Abdulaziz, arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday on a three-day visit to Pakistan, ARY News reported.

The delegation was welcomed by Minister for Privatisation Abdul Aleem, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, and Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik At the Noor Khan Airbase, Islamabad.

Members of the delegation come from a variety of industries and sectors, including manpower, business, tourism, energy, mining, and minerals.

According to the schedule, the Saudi delegation will hold business-to-business meetings with Pakistani companies, and several agreements will be signed during the visit.

Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan is expected would sign Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and agreements worth US$2 billion with Saudi Arabia during the upcoming visit of the kingdom’s high-level delegation.

Addressing the federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad, PM Shehbaz said that the agreements are expected to be signed as during Saudi Arabia’s delegation visit to Pakistan.

He also thanked China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for their support in obtaining the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme.

PM Shehbaz also mentioned last week’s visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim when the two sides agreed that Pakistan would export Halal meat and rice to Malaysia.

He said consequent to the ‘finest level’ of teamwork, the IMF program has been approved, and inflation was reduced from 32 to 6.9 percent. He added that exports, remittances, and IT exports are on the surge and the stock exchange is skyrocketing.

He said sabotaging all these efforts for the sake of their politics would be the biggest conspiracy to the country, he remarked.

Thanking the IMF chief for her support in approving the the loan programme for Pakistan, the prime minister said that she was also appreciative of the reforms introduced by the incumbent and the caretaker governments.