Naveed Ahmad Khan
ISLAMABAD: A high-level delegation of Saudi Arabia, led by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, has arrived in Pakistan on Monday, with the newly-elected government hoping to attract billions of dollars in investment from kingdom.
The delegation consists of Saudi Minister of Water and Agriculture Eng Abdul Rahman Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadley, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Ibrahim AlKhorayef, Deputy Minister of Investment Badr AlBadr, Head of Saudi Special Committee Mohammad Mazyed Al Towaijri, and senior officials from Ministry of Energy and Saudi Fund for General Investments.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Saudi Arabia Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Saeed Ahmad Al-Malkiy and other cabinet members welcomed the delegation at the airport.
The visit was taking place to expedite action on the understanding reached between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Arabia Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman, during their recent meeting in Makkah to enhance bilateral economic cooperation.
The Saudi team was expected to hold meetings with the president, the prime minister, the foreign minister, counterpart ministers, COAS and SIFC committee.
The visit is anticipated to provide a significant boost to bilateral cooperation and foster a mutually beneficial economic partnership between the two nations.
Pakistan is hoping to attract billions of dollars in investment from Saudi Arabia as part of its initiative under the banner of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a civil-military forum aimed at removing bottlenecks and other bureaucratic hurdles hindering foreign investment.
In recent visit to the Kingdom, PM Shehbaz and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman agreed to expedite the first wave of a planned $5 billion investment package for Pakistan.
In January last year, the crown prince had directed the Saudi Development Fund (SDF) to study increasing the deposit amount in the State of Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to $5bn.
The move, according to the Saudi Press Agency, confirmed Saudi Arabia’s position on supporting the economy of Pakistan and its “sisterly people”.