The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) would provide the latest educational equipment for the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir costing 3.67 billion.
This was announced by the ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Pakistan Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Maliki while addressing an agreement ceremony between the Saudi Fund for Development and Jamia Kashmir in Islamabad.
Saudi Fund for Development has contributed immensely to socio-economic development of Pakistan not only by provision of financial assistance to overcome economic crisis but also a number of community welfare programmes that have helped a lot in improving living standards of the people.
The Fund is providing assistance of three hundred and thirty three million dollars for 23 projects in Pakistan, of which 13 projects have been completed while 10 projects are under completion.
People of Pakistan can never forget the generous assistance offered by Saudi Arabia in the wake of the devastating earthquake of 2005 when at the instance of the then King an air bridge was established between Riyadh and Pakistan to provide valuable relief and rescue assistance.
The Kingdom did not stop at that and undertook rehabilitation projects both in KPK and Azad Kashmir and King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Teaching Hospital Mansehra and King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Campus Muzaffarabad are two of the most important projects of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir which were completed with the support of Saudi Fund for Development.
The Saudi Ambassador, Mr.Maliki, who is taking extraordinary interest in various initiatives aimed at bringing people of the two countries still closer, has also announced provision of fifty scholarships for Pakistani students to study in Saudi universities.
The KSA would bear all the expenses of studies and accommodation of these students and the number of scholarships would be doubled next year.
The remarks of the Ambassador that his country would spare no effort in supporting and offering assistance to Pakistan assumes greater significance in the present day context and we are sure the bilateral ties would scale new heights in months and years to come.
