ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia during the concluding 11th session of Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) on Wednesday reached a consensus for setting up a work group for export of halal food to the latter.
Saudi investment has been sought for establishment of North-South gas pipeline, hasten talks on bilateral investment treaty and exchange of parliamentary delegation, reported an English Daily.
The session was co-presided over by Commerce and Textile Minister Pervaiz Malik and Minister of Commerce and Investment Dr Majeed Abdullah Al-Qasabi of Saudi Arabia led a 35-member team.
A consensus was reached on holding of exhibition of new products in each other’s nations by the two sides. The inaugural country exhibition of Pakistani products in Saudi Arabia will take place in second-half of the year.
An understanding was also reached to revisit and simplify procedure for business visa issuance and the fee will also be decreased. Also, JMC emphasized about reviving Pak-Saudi Joint Business Council (JBC) within the next few months.
Pakistan called for increased cooperation between local and Saudi oil and gas companies for establishing domestic oil production, including setting up of refineries. Pakistan and Saudi-Arabia also reached consensus to accelerate talks regarding the finalization of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between their respective central banks.
The Saudi’s said a royal directive has been issued to designate a labour attaché for Pakistan whose responsibility will be to provide go-ahead for labour training centres which will train manpower according to Saudi regulations.
They have also agreed to setup a training institute which will assist the Saudi’s in meeting their human resource requirements and exporting manpower from Pakistan. A team from Ministry of Overseas Pakistani’s and Overseas Development will be dispatched next week to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has also accepted to visa relaxation besides decrease in visa fees for Pakistani citizens. Agreement was reached to cooperate in fields of scientific research, experiences in health teaching and medical staff, student exchange visits.
Both Islamabad and Riyadh reached an agreement to appoint appropriate people for cooperation in fields of energy, agriculture, education, trade and investment.
And Pakistani doctors, qualified trained health practitioners will be engaged for working in the kingdom, for which Saudi Ministry of Health will continue its cooperation.
Very pragmatic approach is witnessed in the identification of viable projects /prepositions in all sectors of economy as industry/ manufacturing, trade, human resource development, ease of doing businesses,etc. If implemented in right earnest, can be very beneficial for KSA and Pakistan. Particularly, Pakistan can , under FDI bring Suadi Investment billions of dollars in setting up OIL REFINERIES, haalal FOOD PROJECTS, manpower training centres and allied exports/ business activities.
Congratulations to the management team and participants of this forum for undertaking such a valuable task. m.aslam ch