JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia views Pakistan as one of the top destinations for making investments,” Said Abdulrahman Alharbi, Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the first meeting of Pak-Saudi Joint Working Group on Trade & Investment held at Riyadh on Feb, 27, 2018. Pakistan Delegation was headed by Mohammad Younus Dagha, Commerce Secretary. Saleem Ranjha Additional Secretary BOI and Khan Hasham Bin Saddique, the Ambassador of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia along with technical team were also part of the Pakistani side in the Working Group. Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan, Nawaf Saeed Ahmad Al-Maliki was also in attendance.

The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen 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. Saudi side showed their 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.

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.

Mr Dagha appreciated the progress made on various important matters in today’s 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.