Pakistan to sign agreements worth over $2 billion with Saudis later this week — Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif
Pakistan will sign agreements worth over $2 billion with an incoming delegation from Saudi Arabia later this week, Prime Minister Shehbaz . Saudi Arabia’s Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih is scheduled to visit Pakistan with a high-level delegation from Oct. 9-11, Pakistan’s foreign office confirmed on Monday. The Saudi delegation will arrive in Islamabad ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit scheduled to be held in the capital from Oct. 15-16. Pakistan’s foreign office said the Saudi delegation’s visit is aimed at boosting economic cooperation between the two countries. Addressing his cabinet members, Sharif took aim at former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, saying that its protests last week were aimed at hurting the country’s current economic gains. “And now that a Saudi delegation is coming and we are to sign agreements or MoUs worth more than $2 billion with them, to sabotage all these efforts is the biggest enmity against Pakistan,” the prime minister said during his televised address. “We will not allow this, we will not tolerate this and under no circumstances this will be allowed. Under any rate, under any cost,” he added. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been closely working in recent months to increase bilateral trade and investment deals, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reaffirming the Kingdom’s commitment to expedite an investment package of $5 billion to the South Asian country earlier this year. Pakistan has been eyeing closer cooperation in trade, defense, energy and other sectors of the economy with regional allies as it seeks to escape a prolonged economic crisis that has drained its foreign exchange reserves and weakened its currency. For More Details Click Here
