Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to ink $1bn agreement in oil sector

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will ink an agreement of over $1 billion in near future in the oil sector, through the Saudi Development Fund, a Saudi news channel reported on Wednesday.

“The coming days will witness the signing of an agreement between the Kingdom and Pakistan through the Saudi Development Fund for Development with an increase of one billion dollars for oil derivatives,” Nawaf Al-Maliki, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Pakistan was quoted as saying by the Saudi Al-Khabaria channel.

فيديو | سفير المملكة لدى باكستان “نواف المالكي”:

الأيام القادمة ستشهد توقيع اتفاقية بين المملكة وباكستان عن طريق الصندوق السعودي للتنمية بزيادة مليار دولار للمشتقات النفطية #عين_الخامسة #الإخبارية pic.twitter.com/7132tijG3L

— قناة الإخبارية (@alekhbariyatv) January 10, 2023

A day earlier, a Saudi Press Agency said Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, has directed to study augmenting Saudi Arabia’s investments in Pakistan, which have previously been announced on August 25, 2022 and were slated to reach US $10 billion.

The SPA said the Crown Prince also directed the Saudi Development Fund (SDF) to study increasing the amount of the deposit provided by Saudi Arabia in favor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). This has been extended on December 2, 2022 to hit a US $5 billion ceiling, the agency said.

The Saudi official news agency said the move strengthened the Kingdom’s position to support the economy of Pakistan and support its people. The report pointed that the move followed communication between the Crown Prince and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.

Earlier in December 2022, Saudi Arabia extended the term for a $3 billion deposit it had made to Pakistan’s central bank.

It is pertinent to mention here that COAS General Asim Munir undertook an official visit to Saudi Arabia and UAE from January 4 to January 10, according to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir also held a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Riyadh.

During the meeting, the Saudi crown prince congratulated General Asim Munir for assuming charge of his office, last year. The meeting discussed bilateral ties, defence cooperation and other matters between the two Islamic States.