ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to form a “coordination council” jointly supervised by the Pakistani prime minister and Saudi crown prince to ensure the implementation of eight deals signed between the two countries later this week, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in a press conference on Wednesday.
Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is due to arrive in Islamabad for a two-day visit on February 16. He is expected to sign a range of agreements worth up to $15 billion dollars, including for three power plants in Pakistan’s Punjab province and an oil refinery and petrochemical complex to be set up in the coastal city of Gwadar in southwestern Baluchistan.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the crown prince, relevant ministers from both countries would be part of a new Pakistan-Saudi Arabia “coordination council” which would follow up on and implement agreements, said Qureshi.
“Through the council, the MoUs [memoranda of understanding] will be followed up on and made a reality,” Qureshi said. “We are putting in place a mechanism to take these MoUs to their logical conclusion.”
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have long maintained strong ties and Riyadh has repeatedly come to Islamabad’s financial rescue.
![](http://www.arabnews.pk/sites/default/files/styles/n_670_395/public/2019/02/13/1459806-909930933.jpg?itok=uTuPCcXe)
Qureshi said over the next three years, Saudi Arabia would give Pakistan a total sum of $9.6 billion in loans and oil on deferred payments to help keep its economy afloat and avert a balance of payments crisis. (AN photo)
The foreign minister said that when PM Khan and the visiting crown prince met last year, Prince Salman told him that he wanted their strong bilateral relationship “at the political level” to be expanded into an “economic partnership.”
Thus, following the leaders’ meeting, an “advance team” arrived in Pakistan from Saudi Arabia and met with representatives from the commerce and finance ministries and the board of investment, among others, to ascertain if there was investment potential in Pakistan and in which sectors.
“The Saudis wanted that homework should be done and after the homework, then [the crown prince] should come,” Qureshi said.
“So now when he comes to Islamabad on his two-day visit, we hope to sign eight MoUs,” he added, declining to give a figure for the total investments expected.
Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Haroon Sharif told the same press conference that about 30 businessmen would also be arriving with the crown prince to seek private sector investments in the energy, minerals, construction, food processing and hospitality industries in Pakistan.
“Real investment goes forward when the private sector is involved,” Sharif said. “This economic engagement will continue. And we are already talking very seriously with Saudi Arabia about setting up a real investment forum.”