Islamabad: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman is expected to arrive in Pakistan on Sunday, February 17 for a two-day visit, Islamabad announced on Friday.

Earlier, the Crown Prince was scheduled to arrive on February 16.

“The visit programme [itinerary], however, remains unchanged,” a Foreign Office of Pakistan statement said.

The Crown Prince will arrive on Sunday morning and leave on Monday evening for India, an official at the Saudi Embassy confirmed to Gulf News.

The change in the Crown Prince’s schedule has prompted the government to reschedule all arrangements and engagements earlier scheduled to be held with the visiting delegation.

A late night meeting held at the Foreign Office Friday reviewed preparations for the upcoming high profile visit by the Crown Prince and it was decided to intimate all the guests and participants who were to be present at the Noor Khan airbase on Saturday at the time of MBS’ arrival and later participate in the reception at the PM House the new dates through official and private sources.

A letter issued by the Board of Investment of Pakistan, dated February 15, to all businessmen and investors who were earlier invited to a meeting with Saudi businessmen says, “Due to unavoidable circumstances, the visit of the Saudi delegation has been postponed. Therefore, the Pak-Saudi business conference which was scheduled to be held on February 17 has been postponed. Any inconvenience is highly regretted and the new dates of the meeting will be intimated soon.”

Crown Prince Mohammad, who is also the deputy prime minister and minister of defence of the Kingdom, will be conferred with Nishan-e-Pakistan – the highest civilian award — during his visit to the country.

The Saudi guests will be provided a three-layer box security from the military airbase to the PM House.

The Triple-One Brigade of the country’s armed forces and Saudi Royal Guards will jointly patrol the route and escort convoy of the Saudi delegation.

Mohammad Bin Salman is scheduled to hold meetings with President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan, Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser, Chairman of the Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, noted personalities, delegation of youth, members of civil society and Saudi nationals working in Pakistan in various fields.

A cross section of Pakistani people including students, youth, businessmen, religious scholars and social workers will also meet him during his stay in Pakistan.