A two-day Pakistan-Saudi Arabia investment conference commenced on Monday with the head of the Saudi delegation, Deputy Investment Minister Ibrahim Almubarak, saying the Gulf kingdom considered Pakistan a “high priority” economic, investment and business opportunity.
Organized after several meetings between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aimed at boosting bilateral trade and investment, the conference sees a 50-member high-level Saudi trade delegation visiting Islamabad to engage with their Pakistani counterparts and explore avenues for trade and investment.
In his address, Almubarak said Saudi companies considered Pakistan “very suitable for investment,” adding the delegation’s visit would enable the expansion of trade ties between the two countries. “Our visit to Pakistan is a continuation of the previous visit,” he said, referring to a ministerial delegation that visited Islamabad last month. He said both the Saudi government and companies are giving “preference” to Pakistan for investment.
Noting a large number of Pakistanis were contributing to the development of Saudi Arabia, the minister said Saudi investors wished to invest in various sectors of Pakistan.
Launching the event, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb stressed on the government’s commitment to facilitate the private sector in shifting the country toward export-led growth. He said the government was working to bring foreign direct investment to uplift various sectors, adding the government’s job was to provide the policy framework and allow the private sector to take the lead.
Reiterating Pakistan’s economic indicators, he noted agriculture GDP was growing at 5 percent thanks to bumper crops of sugarcane, rice, and wheat. He also expressed optimism that the country’s current account deficit would be less than $1 billion this fiscal year, which ends on June 30. Pointing to Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves rising to $9-10 billion, he said the local currency had also stabilized and inflation had declined from a peak of 38% to roughly 17% today. He also noted that the Pakistan Stock Market was prospering due to interest from foreign investors.
On Pakistan’s plans to secure an extended facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said it would enable macroeconomic stability and structural reforms. He said the IMF mission would visit Pakistan in the next 7-10 days to discuss the contours of the new program. He maintained the government would expedite the privatization of loss-making state-owned entities, adding policy continuation was essential for economic stability.
Also addressing the gathering, Petroleum Musadik Malik called for the private sectors of both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to work together to move towards diversification of economy and value addition, adding this would bring prosperity to both countries. He said the countries were aiming to collaborate in various sectors, including mines and minerals, tourism and agriculture.
Earlier, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal in a press release said the visit was aimed at enhancing trade ties between investors from both countries, as well as identifying trade and investment opportunities across various sectors of Pakistan’s economy. He said his ministry had picked several Pakistani companies for business-to-business meetings with Saudi investors, adding “leading” Pakistani companies would collaborate with at least 30 Saudi companies across different sectors. He said the business-to-business meeting would focus on the agriculture, mining, human resource, energy, chemicals, and maritime sectors, while investment prospects in I.T., religious tourism, telecom, aviation, construction, water and power generation sectors would also be discussed.