Saudi sovereign fund invites mega Pakistani companies to invest in Kingdom — envoy

Cars drive past the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 12, 2017.(REUTERS/File)

• Big players in manufacturing, banking, telecommunications, and construction invited to explore business opportunities
• Stakeholders say need to establish direct links between Pakistani and Saudi businessmen to translate brotherly relations into trade volumes

KARACHI: The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, has invited mega Pakistani companies operating in the manufacturing and financial sectors to invest in the Kingdom’s infrastructure development under Vision 2030, Pakistani officials said on Sunday.
Earlier this year, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said the PIF and its companies aimed to contribute 1.2 trillion riyals to non-oil gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of 2025.
“Recently, the largest Saudi institution, Public Investment Fund officials approached us in the embassy of Pakistan and met with the ambassador and trade mission officials,” Azhar Ali Dahar, Minister for trade and investment at the Pakistani embassy in Riyadh, told Arab News on Sunday.
“PIF officials have invited Pakistani premier institutions like major banks, insurance companies, telecommunication operators, cement manufacturers, and construction companies to explore and benefit from existing lucrative business opportunities in the kingdom,” he added.
PIF is one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world and aims to contribute SAR 1.2 trillion, or $320 billion, to non-oil GDP cumulatively by the end of 2025.
"Every year around $10 billion are being invested in Saudi Arabia under its Vision 2030 particularly for the development of infrastructure,” Dahar said, and added that no major Pakistani company was among the beneficiaries of these investment opportunities as compared to Indians with around 500 companies participating.
The trade mission chief said full support would be given to companies interested in investing in the Kingdom.
“The trade mission will facilitate meetings with PIF officials, arrange visits to the industrial areas where they will have opportunities to look for investment avenues,” Dahar said.
“They can bring initial investment and with the help of the fund, they can start their manufacturing process within just three months.”
The minister said that instead of manufacturing and exporting from Pakistan, manufacturing could happen in Saudi Arabia by availing the many incentives on offer by the government.
“In Pakistan there is an energy crisis but everything is available in the Kingdom,” he said. “All they (Pakistani businesses) have to do is bring initial investment and start production.”
“Whatever they will earn will ultimately go to Pakistan in the form of remittances,” he added.
The Pakistani trade mission chief said companies should contact the mission in Riyadh for further facilitation, “so they don’t miss out on this huge opportunity.”
Pakistani businessmen, for their part, lauded the ‘great gesture’ and said they would explore investment avenues.
“Our labor so far has played a crucial role in the development of the Kingdom,” Bilal Aqeel, Director of the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia Business Council at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), told Arab News.
“Now they are directly inviting our companies to invest which is a great gesture,” he said.
“Our bilateral relations are superb but those relations do not reflect in our bilateral trade,” Aqeel said and added: “We need to establish direct links between Pakistani and Saudi businessmen to translate brotherly relations into real trade volumes.”