RIYADH: In a positive development, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday announced adding another $600 million to its recently pledged $2.2 billion investment in Pakistan, with Saudi Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Falih calling it \u201conly the beginning of something very special\u201d.
\nThe development came during a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Saudi minister held on the sidelines of 8th edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Riyadh.
\nThe \u201cvery productive\u201d meeting encompassed bilateral cooperation in multiple sectors including trade, finance, agriculture, technology and skilled manpower, according to a joint press stakeout.
\nAt the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the prime minister is currently on a two-day official visit to Saudi Arabia where he addressed the FII moot on \u2018Infinite Horizons: Investing Today, Shaping Tomorrow.\u2019 and joined the global leaders to discuss how investment could serve as a catalyst for a prosperous and sustainable future.
\nAccompanied by Adviser at the Royal Court Mohammad Maziad Al-Tuwaijri, Saudi Minister Al Falih told the media that during his recent visit to Pakistan, both sides had signed 27 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for investment worth $2.2 in Pakistan.
\nHe announced that following PM Sehbaz\u2019s meeting with the crown prince and their discussion, the number of MoUs has been increased from 27 to 34 to add $600 million in investment taking the investment volume to $2.8 billion.
\nSpeaking on the occasion, the premier said that the meetings with the crown prince and Al Falih were reassuring, adding that some of the projects agreed upon during the recent Saudi delegation\u2019s visit were under implementation.
\nHe said both sides would work on the timelines of the project and expressed the hope that under the leadership of Saudi crown prince, both sides would strengthen bilateral relations not only for the benefit of the people of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia but the entire Muslim ummah.
\n\u201cWhen I come back, I will have good news for the people of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. With your valuable support, we will be able to carve our way forward and soon be able to make big announcements,\u201d he remarked.
\nMinister Al-Falih said that as a follow-up of their Pakistan visit, both sides had \u201cextensive\u201d working-level meeting to elevate the bilateral relations to yet higher horizons in the fields of economy, finance, trade and people-to-people contacts.
\nHe said that some of the MoUs had resulted in exports from Pakistan in agriculture and other fields. He also expressed the Saudi government\u2019s willingness to import Pakistan\u2019s skilled workforce as he said the world was looking towards Saudi Arabia becoming a key driver in digital technology and artificial intelligence.
\nPM Shehbaz also expressed gratitude to the Saudi leadership for support to Pakistan which was critical to achieving the IMF programme.
\nHe said with the commitment and collective efforts by the government and the support from the brotherly countries, Pakistan would march towards economic progress.
\nHe also thanked 2.5 million Pakistani expatriates for contributing to Saudi development and assured that Pakistan would make efforts to prepare a skilled workforce to meet Saudi requirements to contribute in a big way to the Kingdom\u2019s development program.
\nEarlier this month, Islamabad and Riyadh inked several memorandums of understanding (MoUs), worth over $2 billion, to boost bilateral trade and investment during the Islamabad visit of a Saudi delegation, headed by Saudi Investment Minister.
\nThe Khalid-led delegation comprised Saudi companies from various sectors including construction, engineering, financial services, IT, hospitality, agriculture, food, energy, and petroleum are part of the visiting delegation.
\nThe agreements include a $70 million investment in the agriculture sector, the establishment of advanced semiconductor chip manufacturing in Saudi Arabia, the establishment of a textile industry, a white oil pipeline project, an MoU for exploring investment opportunities, a hybrid power project, development of transformer manufacturing facilities in both the countries, cyber security measures for customers and businesses, and the export of spices and vegetables from Pakistan.
\nAdditionally, the agreements outline the establishment of a manufacturing facility for surgical and dental equipment and collaboration on the federal government\u2019s E-Taaleem and digitalisation programmes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RIYADH: In a positive development, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday announced adding another $600 million to its recently pledged $2.2 billion investment in Pakistan, with Saudi Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Falih calling it \u201conly the beginning of something very special\u201d. The development came during a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Saudi …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":72287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72291,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72272\/revisions\/72291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}