Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will sign memoranda of understanding relating to diverse sectors, including investment, finance, power, renewable energy, internal security, media, culture and sports, during the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In a joint press conference on Friday, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood and Chairman Board of Investment (BoI) Haroon Sharif shared the details of Saudi investment on the arrival of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
With the visit of the Crown Prince, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are going to witness an unprecedented level of closeness based on solid economic integration, said Razak Dawood. The MoUs relating to diverse sectors, including investment, finance, power, renewable energy, internal security, media, culture and sports will be signed, he added.
The actual volume of their investment could not be determined as their main focus of investment is in oil refinery which could cost $1 billion to $ 10 billion, he said.
He said a Saudi-Pakistan Supreme Coordination Council (SCC), led by Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and Prime Minister Imran Khan will be launched during the visit.
He said under this Coordination Council, cooperation would be strengthened in defence & security, economic and culture sectors. He said the defence exports of Pakistan including Al Khalid tanks or others to Saudi Arabia were not included in the list of cooperation.
"Saudi-Pakistan Supreme Coordination Council will help the two countries for effective coordination and follow-up to achieve mutually agreed objectives," Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said in a series of tweets.
Responding to a question, Dawood said that the investment being made by Saudi Arabia should not be compared with the investment by China, as China has been helping Pakistan for five years to improve infrastructure and now China's new target is to improve agriculture and industry.
He maintained that after the CPEC, the market is being opened as Malaysia and Turkey will also make investments in Pakistan.
The Saudi Arabia's investment would be purely on a commercial basis as Saudi Arabia would complete feasibility over petroleum, energy, and mineral projects in a year.
Responding to another question that India is taking back the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan in the aftermath of a suicide bombing in occupied Kashmir, he said that Pakistan would take appropriate decision after closely observing the situation. "We can take decision unilaterally, bilaterally or multilaterally (through WTO)," he said.
Haroon Sharif said that more than 30 businessmen will accompany the Saudi Crown Prince. "We will provide level play field to all the foreign investors and investments from all countries are welcomed in economic zones," he said.
The advisor to the PM said that Saudi Arabia is planning to export petroleum products from the proposed oil refinery and petrochemical complex. He said Saudi Arabia has shown interest in investment in mineral development. Provinces of Balochistan and KP would get additional benefits as both the provinces are enriched with minerals.
The Saudi investors have also shown interest in investment in two RLNG-based power plants including 1200MW Haveli Bahadur Shah and Balloki. Both projects are also included in list of those entities put on privatisation.
He said the investment would help reduce the cost of electricity which would make the industrial sector more competitive and boost the exports.
The advisor said during Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, investment came in infrastructure and power sectors. As a result, he said, there was improvement in infrastructure of Pakistan.
Chairman Saudi Fund and Minister for Finance Asad Umar will sign an MoU related to project financing. An MoU is related to financing through Saudi Development Fund. The MoUs related to energy sector would be signed by energy ministers of the both sides.
Haroon Sharif said the four MoUs would be signed in economic and energy sectors.
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