PM Shehbaz’s Saudi trip to prioritize investment and future cooperation - assalamu alaikum
Assalamu alaikum. ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s new Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Friday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Saudi Arabia next week will emphasize increasing economic investment, completing ongoing projects and mapping out plans for future collaboration.
Sharif is scheduled to be in Riyadh from Oct. 27-30 to take part in the ninth Future Investment Initiative conference, an event started by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund under Vision 2030.
The forum gathers global leaders, investors and innovators to look at investment opportunities and promote technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and green finance.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have long had close ties and have been expanding cooperation in recent years, including a defense agreement signed in Riyadh during the prime minister’s visit on Sept. 18 and 34 memoranda of understanding worth $2.8 billion across various sectors last year.
“Saudi Arabia’s visit has a significant economic investment component,” Andrabi said at his first media briefing, adding that he expects it will help streamline already agreed projects and set the course for future ones.
When asked if Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir would join the prime minister, Andrabi replied he was not aware and that details would become clearer as the visit nears.
Saudi Arabia has been an important source of economic support for Pakistan, providing a $3 billion deposit with the State Bank of Pakistan that has been rolled over several times-most recently in December 2024-and deferring oil payments of about $1.2 billion under a facility agreed in February 2025 to ease short-term financial pressure.
The recently signed defense pact formalized long-standing security cooperation and stated that an attack on one would be considered an attack on both. The two countries share deep ties built on faith, mutual respect and strategic partnership, with Riyadh remaining a key political and economic ally of Islamabad.
Saudi Arabia also hosts over 2.5 million Pakistani expatriates, and these workers are a major source of remittances for Pakistan’s economy.
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