Saudi Crown Prince, FM to visit Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that a Saudi delegation will visit Islamabad after Eidul Fitr to discuss the upcoming visit of Saudi Crown Prince and foreign minister to Pakistan.
Addressing a news conference after offering condolences on the demise of international fame scholar Qari Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar Naqshbandi during his visit to his residence on Wednesday, Qureshi said that Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has decided to invest US$500 million more to strengthen energy sector in Pakistan.
The Saudi Arabian assistance would help overcome the imbalance in energy mix, he said, adding that it is meant for alternate and renewable energy including solar, wind and hydel power.
The US$500 million from Saudi Arabia would improve Pakistan’s energy mix balance, he said, adding it would help make the tariff become cheaper gradually and would impact the economy positively.
He said that Saudi funding would also focus infrastructure development and investment on water resources projects.
He said the delegation will deliberate the upcoming visit of the Saudi foreign minister to Islamabad. He termed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia “highly productive”.
Qureshi said the prime minister and Saudi prince signed an agreement under which the Saudi-Pakistani Supreme Coordination Council will be established. The council will provide an institutionalised and structured platform to boost relations between the two countries, he added.
He said the two countries decided to move forward in all fields, especially energy collaboration, economic relations, investments and job opportunities.
Under the Vision 2030 of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the Kingdom would require a workforce, the minister said and added it would also create hundreds of thousands of employment opportunities for Pakistanis in the country. He said a long-standing issue with Kuwait over visa had also been resolved.
Qureshi said that the three-day KSA visit was made on the invitation of crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman and it helped defuse the designs of detractors.
He said that Pakistan enjoys good relations with Saudi Arabia, however, the recent initiative of Saudia-Pak Strategic Supreme Council brought it from ad hoc to institutional arrangements.
He further informed that this institutional mechanism stood on three pillars including security & political pillar to be headed by foreign minister, economic outreach led by the interior minister and cultural & communication pillar would be led by the minister for information & broadcasting. – TLTP