Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir is on an “official visit” to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the 4th to the 10th of January, the media wing of Pakistan’s military said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), COAS General Asim Munir will meet the senior leadership of both brotherly countries to discuss matters of “mutual interest, military to military cooperation and bilateral relations focusing on security-related subjects”.
The visit has come as the first official visit of the newly appointed COAS, who assumed charge of the Pakistan Army on November 29 last year.
The timing of the visit is also very important as the country faces severe economic crises and the rise in terror waves from across the border.
Back home, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is hoping that Saudi Arabia’s financial assistance will beef up the foreign exchange reserves of Pakistan, which have fallen to the lowest level since April 2014.
Addressing a joint press conference with the government’s economic team on Wednesday, Ishaq Dar expressed the hope to receive a $3 billion second bailout from Saudi Arabia within days, vowing to raise money through the sale of assets to beef up the critically-low foreign exchange reserves.
