Islamabad: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman is expected to visit Pakistan on November 21, according to embassy officials.
Pakistani officials are hopeful of a breakthrough on the proposed oil refinery and other projects during the highly anticipated visit of the Saudi crown prince. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier also expressed hopes of progress in the financing of a multibillion-dollar oil refinery project during the visit.
During the first official visit of the Saudi crown prince in February 2019, Islamabad and Riyadh signed seven investment agreements worth $21 billion including a $10 billion Aramco oil refinery project.
The Pakistani prime minister visited the Kingdom last month in October where he and the Saudi crown prince agreed to upgrade bilateral ties to “new heights”. PM Sharif also addressed the Future Investment Initiative Summit in Riyadh, also known as ‘Davos in the Desert’, and invited Saudi firms to invest in renewable energy in Pakistan. This was Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s second visit to Saudi Arabia since assuming office in April 2022.
Climate change cooperation
On Monday, Sharif met the Saudi Crown Prince in Egypt and discussed cooperation to confront climate change. Both leaders are attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), in Sharm Al Sheikh, Egypt. World leaders, policymakers and delegates from nearly 200 countries are participating in the COP27 climate summit.
Pakistani and Saudi leaders discussed the aspects of cooperation in various fields and efforts made to confront climate change, the Saudi foreign minister said on Twitter. Shehbaz Sharif appreciated the Middle East Green Initiative and assured the Saudi leadership of Pakistan’s full support, according to state media. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said that the kingdom would contribute $2.5 billion to the green initiative in the Middle East over the next ten years and host its headquarters as part of efforts to reduce regional carbon emissions.
PM Sharif and his team, including climate change minister Sherry Rehman and foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, are attending to use the summit to get the rich countries to commit to loss and damage fund to help countries like Pakistan deal with climate catastrophe.
Pakistan, which contributes less than 1 per cent of the world’s planet-warming emissions, has paid a heavy price and the country is still reeling from the aftermath of the worst floods in history. The deluge affected 33 million people and killed more than 1,700 others across the country during June and September. The floods also fully and partially damaged some 2.2 million homes and killed 1 million livestock animals and drenched millions of acres of the crop.
