RIYADH: “Saudi Arabia views Pakistan as one of the top destinations for making investments,” said Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade Abdul Rahman Alharbi during the first meeting of Pak-Saudi Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment held at Riyadh on Monday.
The Pakistan delegation was headed by Commerce Secretary Mohammad Younus Dagha. BOI Additional Secretary Saleem Ranjha, Ambassador of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia Khan Hasham Bin Saddique along with technical team were also part of the Pakistani side. Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf Saeed Ahmad Al-Maliki was also in attendance.
The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening their trade and investment ties in line with the understandings developed during the meeting of Pak-Saudi Joint Ministerial Commission held in Islamabad last month. Saudi side acknowledged and appreciated the attractiveness of Pakistan as a preferred destination of investment in view of its macroeconomic indicators, growth projects, strategic location and overall investment regime. It showed its interest in investing in Pakistan in many sectors including petrochemicals, dairy, livestock, mining etc. It was agreed that Saudi Arabia will send a technical team to Pakistan to review the sector-specific opportunities and projects.
The two sides agreed to activate Pak-Saudi Joint Business Council within two months. It was further agreed that Pakistan will hold Single Country Exhibition in Saudi Arabia in 2018. In order to give further impetus to the trade relations, it was agreed to mutually facilitate the trade by overcoming the issues like visa fees, registration of companies, shipment delays and mutual recognition of standards.
Dagha appreciated the progress made on various important matters in the meeting and assured support to Saudi investors looking to invest in various sectors.
The Joint Working Group will reconvene in Islamabad in April 2018, where sector-specific initiatives will be discussed.
