Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud will arrive here on Thursday (today) to discuss the bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.
According to a press release issued by the Foreign Office, during his visit, the Saudi minister will call on Prime Minister Imran Khan and hold a meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. “This would be his maiden visit to Pakistan, during which the exchange of views will cover bilateral matters and regional issues of mutual interest,” the statement said.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy a deep-rooted and longstanding fraternal relationship. The two countries are committed to further strengthening bilateral cooperation in all fields. Frequent high-level visits are a key feature of the relationship and serve to further deepen and broaden mutual collaboration.
The visit comes days after Pakistan announced not to attend at the eleventh hour under what Turkish president termed Saudi threats the Malaysia summit.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had accepted Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s invitation to the summit which was held from Dec 18 to 21 to offer ‘an international platform for Muslim leaders, intellectuals and scholars…to discuss, exchange ideas about the issues revolving in the Muslim world’. However, Pakistan suddenly pulled out of the moot after Prime Minister Imran’s visit to Riyadh. A Turkish newspaper later quoted President Recep Tayyib Erdogan as saying that Pakistan was pressured to stay away from the moot in which leaders of Malaysia, Turkey, Iran and Qatar participated. Erdogan had ‘unveiled’ that Saudi Arabia threatened Pakistan to withdraw its financial assistance as well as to expel millions of its workers if it attended the gathering of Muslim leaders in Malaysian capital.
Reports said Saudi Arabia never wants to lose the public support it enjoys in Pakistan and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah is believed to be visiting Islamabad to dispel such an impression.
Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates are the first countries, which extended financial bailout packages for the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan to deal with the balance of payment crisis last year.
