Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammad Bin Salman will visit Pakistan in the third week of this month.
Despite political uncertainty, the visit of Saudi Crown Prince is on track and he is likely to travel to Islamabad on November 21, the diplomatic sources said, adding that both sides were busy preparing for the visit of MBS
Sources said that Saudi Arabia’s special security team will arrive in Pakistan this weekend and will conduct a final review of security arrangements.
The visit was in doubt because of the long march of former prime minister Imran Khan, however, the officials are hoping that the situation would remain under control and there would be no upheaval at the time of the visit
Any further deterioration in the current political uncertainty could create obstacles in the visit of the Saudi Crown Prince.
Sources said that Pakistan was expected to receive an additional bailout package of 4.2 billion dollars during the Crown Prince’s visit. Saudi Arabia is expected to invest heavily in the country during Mohammed bin Salman’s visit, diplomatic sources added.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia sought an additional $4.2 billion financial bailout package. “Saudi Arabia has given a positive response to our request,” the finance minister told the reporters after his return from Saudi Arabia.
The diplomatic sources said Saudi Arabia will cooperate with China to establish a modern oil refinery at a cost of $10billion in Gwadar and the Chinese companies will initially operate the refinery after the completion of the project.
They said that several Pak-Saudi petroleum agreements were being finalized for the visit of MBS.
The diplomatic sources said Saudi Arabia is happy with Pakistan’s support for anti-US Saudi strategy in OPEC.