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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Saudi Arabia will
announce eight investment agreements during a visit to Pakistan by Crown Prince
Mohammad Bin Salman, officials said, a trip that is expected to set the seal on
growing closeness between the historic allies, reported Reuters on Wednesday.
The
investment is welcome in Pakistan, which is facing sharply slowing economic
growth this year, a ballooning budget deficit and foreign currency reserves
dwindling to less than USD8 billion or two months’ of imports.
Saudi
Arabia, meanwhile, is looking to diversify its economy beyond oil exports and
also needs allies in the aftermath of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal
Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.
While Islamabad
has begun talks over a possible bailout with the International Monetary Fund, it
has already won USD6 billion in badly needed loans and credit arrangements from
Saudi Arabia to prevent a balance of payments crisis.
"Saudi Arabia
always supported us in these tough times," Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
told a news conference in Islamabad.
The government is also looking for
new sources of investment alongside the mammoth USD60 billion China Pakistan
Economic Corridor infrastructure project with Beijing.
Total Saudi
investments could reach USD20 billion over the next few years, the Board of
Investment said in a statement, without providing any detailed
breakdown.
Eight memoranda of understanding are expected to be signed
during Prince Mohammad’s visit this weekend after plans were announced last
month for a USD10 billion oil refinery in Gwadar where China is building a
deepwater port as part of its Belt and Road initiative.
"We would like
this economic corridor that is being built and Gwadar to become a hub of trade,
energy and economic activity," Qureshi said.
Saudi Arabia is also
interested in buying two liquefied natural gas-based power plants at Haveli
Bahadur Shah and Bhikki which the government is looking to sell as part of a
privatization drive, he said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was
among a handful of world leaders who attended Riyadh’s flagship investment
conference in October, which was shunned by many companies and governments in
protest at Khashoggi’s murder.
Pakistani newspapers have reported in
awe-struck tones on preparations for Prince Mohammad’s two-day visit, during
which he will be accompanied by a 1,000-strong entourage and five truckloads of
effects including his personal gym equipment.
Qureshi rejected
suggestions that Pakistan had promised its support for the Saudi-backed
coalition waging war in Yemen against the Iran-aligned Houthi
movement.
“There is no such conditionality, there is no attempt to push
Pakistan into Yemen,” he said. |
