PM, Saudi minsters discuss avenues of bilateral cooperation

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif held a meeting with His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, Minister of Energy, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Special Meeting in Riyadh on Monday.

The Saudi Energy Minister was accompanied by the CEO & President of Aramco and the Chairman of ACWA Power.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister highlighted the initiatives undertaken by the government of Pakistan to facilitate and streamline processes for investments in the energy sector of Pakistan. He underscored various avenues available for energy cooperation between the two brotherly countries, which included building new and improving existing energy infrastructure, increasing focus on renewable energy, and bringing efficiencies across entire energy eco-system.

The Energy Minister of the Kingdom acknowledged deep historic fraternal ties between the two countries and highlighted the important role played by Pakistanis in the development of the Kingdom. The Saudi side showed keen interest in developing energy projects identified by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister welcomed the interest by the Kingdom to enhance economic partnership with Pakistan.

He said that following his meeting with His Royal Highness Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman both sides were pursuing the economic cooperation agenda with renewed vigour and commitment. He expressed hope that the technical teams of the two countries would complete their work and many mutually beneficial projects would be launched soon.

The Prime Minister also applauded the vision of the Kingdom and the remarkable transformation that has taken place – making Saudi Arabia a hub of economic growth and development.

Later, the prime minister held a meeting with Faisal Al-Ibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning and Eng. Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen Al-Fadley, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

During the meeting the Prime Minister appreciated the keen interest shown by the Kingdom to explore ways and means to increase economic partnership between the two brotherly countries. He highlighted the potential of Pakistani agriculture sector and underscored that Pakistan can become a bread basket for the Kingdom and could play a critical role in ensuring food security not only for the two countries but for the entire region.

The Saudi Minister for Environment briefed the prime minister on the fruitful discussions that he and his delegation held in Islamabad on 15-16 April 2024. He said that the Saudi agriculture companies were looking at Pakistan with great interest and hoped that both countries would benefit from joint ventures for improving the value chain of the agriculture economy. He underscored that Kingdom valued Pakistan’s strategic and competitive advantages in the field of agriculture and considered the Pakistani agricultural sector as a significant area of cooperation.

The minister appreciated prime minister’s personal attention to elevating the economic cooperation between the two countries. The prime minister congratulated the minister for successfully hosting the Special Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.

He lauded Kingdom’s role to act as a thought leader and take forward global economic and development agenda amidst mounting global instability and crises.