DESPITE the fact that it was not strictly a formal official and bilateral visit but Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s just-concluded visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia produced encouraging results as his meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is reflective of the renewed interest of the leadership of the two countries to take the mutual relationship to new heights. As Pakistan is keen to attract foreign investment in different sectors of its economy, the Kingdom pledged to expedite the first wave of a planned $5 billion Saudi investment package for Pakistan. A joint statement issued after the crucial meeting said discussions at the Al-Safa Palace centred on fortifying the fraternal relations between the two brotherly nations and exploring avenues for enhanced collaboration across various sectors. Emphasis was placed on the Kingdom’s supportive role in Pakistan’s economy and the mutual desire to strengthen trade and investment ties.
This was the first meeting of Shehbaz Sharif with the Crown Prince after assuming power as a result of general elections 2024. The PM was accompanied by all relevant members of the federal cabinet and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, which highlighted the desire of the country to lay emphasis on cementing bonds further with a country that always came to the rescue of Pakistan during difficult times. In fact, both Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shebaz Sharif have strong personal rapport with the Saudi leadership and the visit should be seen in continuation of Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to KSA in April 2022 when it was agreed to deepen the investment cooperation between the two countries, stimulate partnerships and enable investment integration opportunities between the private sector of the two countries. The two sides also agreed to join efforts to develop the investment environment in the two countries and support a number of investment sectors of common interest. No details were given about the priority being given to complete the process of investment of $5 billion but it may be pointed out that the two countries have remained in close contact since then to materialize pledges of investment in Pakistan. The then caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar had revealed that the Kingdom would make a hefty investment of $25 billion in different sectors of Pakistan’s economy.
The evolving nature of Pakistan-KSA relationship augurs well for the two countries as focus is shifting from grants and aids to trade and investment. Apart from the keen interest of the Kingdom to make significant investment in Reko Deko, Saudi Arabia repeatedly announced its intentions to set up a $10 billion oil refinery in the strategically important south-western coastal town of Gwadar which has the potential to change the regional energy and security landscape. The KSA is agreeable to provide funds for power generation projects while also showing an interest to invest in the petrochemical, mining, construction, power generation and agriculture fields. It is time to identify reasons and factors that have been delaying materialization of these pledges into concrete projects. Now we have a high power Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), which has played an important role in removing some bottlenecks in the way of Saudi investment in Pakistan but the scope of such efforts should be expanded to include all avenues of cooperation. Immense opportunities of cooperation are also available through the economic transformation programmes under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and benefitting from the distinguished Pakistani expertise and capabilities in a number of sectors in order to achieve mutual benefit of the two countries’ economies. As the Saudi Crown Prince has launched an ambitious project of a new city at the cost of billions of dollars, Pakistan must focus on securing different developmental projects there besides provision of skilled manpower and a meaningful cooperation in IT and telecom sectors. Apart from economy, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have robust security and military cooperation but this is also restricted to training and deployment of troops whereas there are bright prospects for initiating joint ventures in defence production to meet growing defence and security needs of the two countries and to lessen dependence on imports from vulnerable sources. On the diplomatic front, the Kingdom always supported Pakistan at regional and international platforms and its emphasis on peaceful resolution of the longstanding Kashmir dispute is a source of strength for people of Pakistan and the struggling Kashmiris.
