ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia agreed to launch an Economic Cooperation Framework to strengthen trade and investment ties, according to an official statement released in Islamabad on Tuesday, as both sides move to expand their decades-old partnership following the signing of a defense pact last month.
The development comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the Future Investment Initiative summit in Riyadh.
Last month, the two countries signed a security agreement pledging that aggression against one would be treated as an attack on both. The move was widely viewed as formalizing longstanding military cooperation into a binding commitment aimed at bolstering joint deterrence.
“Prince Mohammed bin Salman ... and Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, agreed during their meeting held in Riyadh on Monday to launch an Economic Cooperation Framework between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” the Pakistani prime minister’s Office said in an official statement.
“This framework is based on the two countries’ shared economic interests and reaffirms their mutual desire to strengthen trade and investment relations to serve their common interests,” it added.
