Pakistan PM Imran Khan to visit Saudi Arabia next week
Countries likely to sign accords on bilateral trade, solutions to climate change
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is visiting Saudi Arabia next week on the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
On March 30, 2021, the Crown Prince had made a telephonic call to inquire about Khan’s health as the latter had tested positive for COVID-19 and was spending time in quarantine.
Wishing Khan a quick recovery, Mohammed Bin Salman had invited him to visit Saudi Arabia after recovery which the prime minister accepted.
A milestone in bilateral relations
According to Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Khan’s visit will prove a milestone in bilateral relations and the two countries are expected to sign several accords and Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) in diversified areas, especially economic and trade relations.
Talking to media persons along with Sindh Governor Imran Ismail at the Governor’s House, the information minister said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoyed deep fraternal relations.
He said the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to Pakistan after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party came to power helped the two countries further strengthen bilateral relations.
Crown Prince’s ‘Vision of 2030’ aligns with Khan’s ‘Green Initiative’
Prime Minister’s Special Representative for the Middle East Hafiz Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi has also termed the Prime Minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia significant.
Khan is visiting Saudi Arabia in the backdrop of the Crown Prince’s “Vision 2030” announcement recently.
The Vision 2030 includes ‘Saudi Green Initiative’ & the ‘Green Middle East Initiative’, closely aligned with Pakistan’s “Clean & Green Pakistan Initiative.”
While the Crown Prince’s Vision 2030 aims at protecting nature and the planet, Khan’s “Clean and Green Pakistan initiative” also calls for investing in nature-based solutions to address climate change impact in the country, said Ashrafi.
During the visit Pakistan and Saudi Arabia would share and learn from each other’s efforts to tackle climate change and global warming, fight against forest degradation, pollution and other such challenges, he said.