MULTAN – Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesdaysaid that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman would pay his second visitto Pakistan soon.
Speaking with journalists, he said that a delegation of Saudi officialswould visit Pakistan after Eid-ul-Fitr and this visit will be followed by atwo-day visit by Saudi foreign minister to finalize arrangements for crownprince’s visit to Islamabad.
SAUDI INVESTMENT
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has decided toinvest $500 million more to strengthen energy sector in Pakistan. The SaudiArabian assistance would help overcome the imbalance in energy mix, hesaid, adding that it was meant for alternate and renewable energy includingsolar, wind and hydel power.
He said that the $500 million from Saudi Arabia would improve Pakistan’senergy mix balance. He said it would help make the tariff become cheapergradually and would impact our economy positively. He said that Saudifunding would also focus infrastructure development and investment on waterresources projects.
The foreign minister said that the three-day Saudi visit was made on theinvitation of the crown prince and it helped defuse the designs ofdetractors. He said that Pakistan had enjoys good relation with SaudiArabia, however, the recent initiative of Saudi-Pak Strategic SupremeCouncil brought it from Adhoc to institutional arrangements.
He said that this institutional mechanism stood on three pillars includingsecurity and political pillar to be headed by foreign minister, economicoutreach led by interior minister and cultural and communication pillarwould be led by the minister for information and broadcasting.
MANPOWER QUOTA
He disclosed that Saudi Arabia has allocated special manpower quota forPakistani workers under its 2030 development vision that involved hugeinvestment for Saudi Arabia development. He said that the new jobsopportunity would benefit hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis.
He said that the issues of visas with Kuwait have also be set and theissues faced by Pakistani families living in Kuwait have been resolved. Hesaid that there was ban on export of Pakistani kino to Iran for the last 12years which has now been lifted. He said that it would benefit thePakistani farmers, exporters and the overall national.