MULTAN – Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman would pay his second visit to Pakistan soon.
Speaking with journalists, he said that a delegation of Saudi officials would visit Pakistan after Eid-ul-Fitr and this visit will be followed by a two-day visit by Saudi foreign minister to finalize arrangements for crown prince’s visit to Islamabad.
SAUDI INVESTMENT
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has decided to invest $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 was meant for alternate and renewable energy including solar, wind and hydel power.
He said that the $500 million from Saudi Arabia would improve Pakistan’s energy mix balance. He said it would help make the tariff become cheaper gradually and would impact our economy positively. He said that Saudi funding would also focus infrastructure development and investment on water resources projects.
The foreign minister said that the three-day Saudi visit was made on the invitation of the crown prince and it helped defuse the designs of detractors. He said that Pakistan had enjoys good relation with Saudi Arabia, however, the recent initiative of Saudi-Pak Strategic Supreme Council brought it from Adhoc to institutional arrangements.
He said that this institutional mechanism stood on three pillars including security and political pillar to be headed by foreign minister, economic outreach led by interior minister and cultural and communication pillar would be led by the minister for information and broadcasting.
MANPOWER QUOTA
He disclosed that Saudi Arabia has allocated special manpower quota for Pakistani workers under its 2030 development vision that involved huge investment for Saudi Arabia development. He said that the new jobs opportunity would benefit hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis.
He said that the issues of visas with Kuwait have also be set and the issues faced by Pakistani families living in Kuwait have been resolved. He said that there was ban on export of Pakistani kino to Iran for the last 12 years which has now been lifted. He said that it would benefit the Pakistani farmers, exporters and the overall national economy.