By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are poised to ink a series of substantial agreements, potentially worth billions, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday during a banquet honoring a high-level Saudi business delegation in Islamabad.
The 50-strong delegation, led by Saudi Assistant Minister of Investment Ibrahim Al-Mubarak, represents around 30 firms across diverse sectors including IT, telecom, energy, and more.
Their arrival on Sunday followed Sharif’s Riyadh visit last month to attend a special two-day meeting of the World Economic Forum. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been working closely in recent weeks to increase bilateral trade and investment deals, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last month reaffirming the Kingdom’s commitment to expedite an investment package of $5 billion.
At the dinner, Sharif highlighted the “tangible progress” made at an investment conference earlier that day, expressing optimism about the imminent signing of lucrative deals. “Today, B2B (business-to-business) interactions have been most productive,” he said. “The time is coming very fast when we will, God willing, witness agreements, solid agreements worth billions of dollars. That will set the ball rolling.”
Sharif said his government was determined to remove hurdles in the way of the speedy achievement of targets. “And I want to assure you that in that endeavor, we are fully resolved and committed,” the PM said
Speaking at the dinner, the Saudi minister Al-Mubarak said Pakistan was a “strategic” partner and friend. “The private sectors have interacted very quickly. We have spoken to them, and only a few days after we have spoken to them, everybody showed interest,” he added.
“The relationship with Pakistan has always been strong, but we look for it to be even stronger, and we can do great things together. I am sure we can achieve both countries’ aspirations and visions.”
Earlier in the day at the conference, Al-Mubarak said this was his second visit to Pakistan in two weeks and many influential leaders from globally renowned Saudi companies were part of his delegation.
“To the Saudi government and Saudi companies, Pakistan is considered a high-priority economic investment and business opportunity,” Al-Mubarak said. “Today, we want to connect you [Pakistan] to all Saudi companies who desire to continue building their international presence, for Saudi Arabia’s ambitions do not stop at our borders and we would like to see Pakistan as one of our leading international partners,” the Saudi official added.
“So, this gathering provides a wonderful opportunity for them [Saudi companies] to develop a deeper understanding of the great opportunities available for investment in Pakistan and to learn about related regulations, requirements, and incentives.”
Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik told a news conference in Islamabad that 125 Pakistani companies were negotiating with the Saudi companies who were visiting Islamabad. “First, there were government-to-government agreements during the visit of the Saudi foreign minister [last month] and now there will be business-to-business agreements,” he said.
“To facilitate the visiting Saudi companies, the Pakistani commerce ministry has assigned one focal person with each Saudi company.”
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