LAHORE: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s commitment for provision of $500 million funds will help develop infrastructure, hydropower projects and water resources in Pakistan.
Talking to a delegation of women entrepreneurs led by Dr Ayesha Tahir, President SAARC Chamber and Commerce Iftikhar Ali Malik said here on Tuesday that under the one of the seventh MoUs signed between two Muslim brotherly countries Saudi Arabia will finance energy, infrastructure, water, transportation and communication projects in Pakistan.
He said as a result of successful visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Saudi Arabia also decided to allocate major chunk of 10 million workers to hire from Pakistan it needed for the next 10 years in the light of Saudi Arabia’s vision 2030 which he added will help prove ample job opportunities to Pakistanis besides earning foreign exchange. He said this decision is a major breakthrough for unemployed skilled and unskilled Pakistani youths.
He said Pakistan always affirmed its everlasting strong durable ties with Saudi Arabia as its most “important and bilateral partnership “working and seeking to develop closer and deep relations with Saudi Arabia, the largest country on the Arabian peninsula.
Malik said bilateral trade between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was on the rise for last few years and balance of trade was in favour of Saudi Arabia as Pakistan imported its most of oil from that country.
He lamented that India Saudi Arabia bilateral trade stood at approximately more than $30 billion annually compared to Pakistan $1.79 billion in 2019 which was negligible and that needed to be improved considerably with active role of Pakistan private sector.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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