ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has constituted a high-level committee to steer bilateral economic engagements and negotiations with Saudi Arabia (KSA), according to an official notification issued by the prime minister’s office on Sunday.
It is widely believed that Islamabad and Riyadh will sign a wide-ranging economic pact as early as this month, weeks after they inked a mutual defense pact, significantly strengthening a decades-old security partnership.
Pakistan’s alliance with Saudi Arabia — the site of Islam’s holiest sites — is rooted in shared faith, strategic interests and economic interdependence. Nearly 2.6 million Pakistanis live and work in Saudi Arabia and are also the largest source of remittances to the South Asian nation.
Pakistan has pushed in recent months to strengthen trade and investment ties with friendly nations, particularly the Kingdom, which has promised a $5 billion investment package that cash-strapped Pakistan desperately needs to shore up foreign reserves and fight a chronic balance of payment crisis.
According to the PM office notification, the committee will be co-chaired by Minister for Climate Change Musadik Masood Malik and Lt Gen Sarfraz Ahmad, National Coordinator of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a civil-military body that oversees foreign investments.
