Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday agreed to establish an "Islamic Commercial Bank" in Pakistan and a leasing company in Saudi Arabia in a joint venture to promote trade and investment between the two brotherly countries. Both the countries also agreed to work out modalities to avoid double taxation on import and exports of each other.
The announcement in this regard was made at a joint press conference addressed by Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan and visiting Saudi Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr Hashim A Yamani on the conclusion of seventh Pak-Saudi Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) meeting here.
An agreement signing ceremony was also held for establishing Islamic Commercial Bank in Pakistan and a Leasing Company in Saudi Arabia.
Religious Affairs Minister Ejazul Haq and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Division Ms Hina Rabbani Khar were also present on the occasion.
The Saudi minister said both the countries have decided to enhance cooperation for greater mutual understanding to improve the living standard of the people of both the countries by enhancing trade and investment.
"It was also decided to co-operate in the field of education, human resource development, health, railways, agriculture, scientific information, security and standards and accreditation," he added.
He said both the sides also stressed upon the need to co-operate in various bodies of both the countries to exchange information and sharing experiences.
Both the countries also agreed to co-operate in visa and councillor affairs, he said, adding that we have listened to the proposals of President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and are pleased to see their genuine interest for promoting mutual cooperation."
The Saudi minister said, "We exchanged views on constructive role and several creative ideas besides promoting integration of two economies."
He said, "We look forward to finalise measures for mutual cooperation between both the countries."
He also appreciated the role of business community for the efforts they made to help in promoting objectives of exploring opportunities in Pakistan.
He also lauded the working of technical committees of both the countries during the last two days, which made serious efforts to achieve the objectives of enhancing mutual cooperation.
He thanked the Government of Pakistan for warm hospitality during their stay here.
He said, "We will look forward to hold next meeting in Saudi Arabia."
Humayun Akhtar in his closing remarks said he was very glad that the Joint Ministerial Commission successfully contributed towards the finalisation of the agreement between both the brotherly countries.
He said exchange of business delegations between both the brotherly countries would help in understanding each other and explore opportunities of mutual cooperation.
The commerce minister said, "We also discussed the status of preferential and free trade agreements between both the countries and decided to continue negotiations on the issue and it is likely to be finalised soon.
He said, "We discussed a number of sectors for enhancing mutual cooperation and expressed the hope that cooperation would be undertaken in almost all the fields."
Humayun said modalities to do away with double taxation are being considered and these would be finalised soon.
He said Saudi Arabia would soon become member of the WTO regime and this would create opportunities for enhancing exports from Pakistan.