Qatar’s Minister of State to arrive in Pakistan on Thursday: FO

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, Dr Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi will visit Pakistan on Thursday, May 9, 2024, the foreign office (FO) said on Wednesday.

He will arrive in Pakistan as a special envoy of the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrehman bin Jassim Al Thani, the FO statement read.

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As per details, the envoy will call on Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and on Deputy Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar in Islamabad.

“Pakistan and Qatar have longstanding and multifaceted bilateral relations characterised by high-level exchanges and visits,” the FO said.

Foreign Minister Dar meets Uzbekistan’s counterpart

In another statement, the FO said Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan Bakhtiyor Saidov on Wednesday held talks with Ishaq Dar at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Saidov arrived in Pakistan today on a two-day official visit.

During the meeting, FO said the two sides underscored “the cultural, civilisational and historical ties between Pakistan and Uzbekistan which provide a solid foundation for robust partnership in multiple domains”.

They also expressed satisfaction at close security and defence cooperation and robust engagement at multilateral fora such as the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, according to the foreign office.

“The two sides reaffirmed commitment to early implementation of the Uzbekistan - Afghanistan - Pakistan Railways project, which would give boost to bilateral and regional trade and become a bridge between South and Central Asia.”

They also discussed at length economic cooperation, trade, investment and connectivity between Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan, Uzbekistan agree to enhance ties

FO said the two sides noted that following operationalisation of Transit Trade Agreement, “bilateral trade has increased 1.4 times during the previous year and has the potential to reach the targets set during the last Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) held in Tashkent in February 2023”.

Pakistan and Uzbekistan agreed to identify new areas of economic cooperation and emphasised the importance of a liberal visa regime especially for the business community to promote linkages and people-to-people contacts, the foreign ministry said.

Saudi business delegation’s visit

The developments come a few days after a business and official delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) arrived in Pakistan to hold business-to-business (B2B) meetings.

Saudi FM-led delegation arrives in Pakistan

Heads of over thirty Saudi companies from agriculture, technology, retail, and corporate sectors were part of the delegation that had come to discuss trade deals and investment in joint ventures with Pakistani entrepreneurs.