ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s State Minister for Information Technology (IT) Shaza Fatima Khawaja on Monday met with representatives of Saudi Arabian IT firms, who are currently visiting Pakistan, and urged them to explore investment opportunities in Pakistan’s IT and telecom sector, the Pakistani IT ministry said.

These IT professionals are part of a high-level Saudi delegation, led by the Kingdom’s Assistant Minister of Investment Ibrahim Al-Mubarak, which arrived in Pakistan on Sunday.

“We are dedicated to offering a stable and supportive framework,” Khawaja told the Saudi delegates. “We encourage all Saudi companies to explore opportunities for partnerships and joint ventures.”

She urged the Saudi delegates to capitalize on the synergies between Pakistan’s technical proficiency and the access to the Saudi market, accompanied by the potential for valuable investments.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been closely working in recent weeks to increase bilateral trade and investment deals, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last month reaffirming the Kingdom’s commitment to expedite an investment package of $5 billion.

Also on Monday, the Saudi assistant minister of investment said Pakistan was a “high-priority economic investment and business opportunity” for Saudi Arabia. He was addressing a two-day Pakistan-Saudi Arabia investment conference in Islamabad, with a focus on business-to-business engagements.

“To the Saudi government and Saudi companies, Pakistan is considered a high-priority economic investment and business opportunity,” he said. “We believe in the great potential of Pakistan’s economy, demographics and talent as well as location and natural resources.”

The Saudi business delegation’s visit comes more than a week after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Riyadh to attend a special two-day meeting of the World Economic Forum, where he met top Saudi officials on the sidelines.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong trade, defense, and cultural ties. The Kingdom is home to over 2.7 million Pakistani expatriates and serves as a top source of remittances to the cash-strapped South Asian country.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani startups, MyTM and Zindigi, have partnered with JS Bank and MasterCard to unveil the Sullis Hajj Card, a “revolutionary” financial product designed to provide pilgrims a cashless experience during their spiritual journey, a senior MyTM official said on Monday.

MyTM, a Pakistan-based startup with operations in the Kingdom, offers digital payments and financial services, while Zindigi is one of the first fully digital banks of Pakistan that offers unprecedented personalization to its customers.

Traditionally, the Hajj journey involves numerous financial transactions from visa fees to accommodation and transportation. The Sullis Hajj Card encapsulates the concept of internationally enabling pilgrims to manage their expenses without the need to carry cash.

“For the first time in Pakistan, this initiative enables a cashless Hajj in the first phase and later on Umrah experience, offering ease of transactions with reduced charges and almost no taxes otherwise applicable on all traditional cards during international transactions,” Jawad Mahmood, chief executive officer of MyTM Saudi Arabia, told Arab News on the sidelines of the Sullis Hajj Card launch in Islamabad.

Through this card, he said, MyTM, Zindigi, JS Bank, and MasterCard were collaborating to offer pilgrims favorable exchange rates, easy money withdrawal and a wide acceptability across Saudi Arabia and other parts of the world.

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and requires every adult Muslim to undertake the journey to the holy Islamic sites in Makkah at least once in their lifetime if they are financially and physically able.

Pakistan has a Hajj quota of 179,210 pilgrims this year. Of them, 63,805 pilgrims will be performing the pilgrimage under the government scheme, while the rest would be accommodated by private tour operators, according to the Pakistani religious affairs ministry.

The Hajj card will be launched for public on May 15, with applications opening through the MyTM app, according to the MyTM Saudi Arabia official. The innovative financial product is a great example of moving forward on Pakistan’s national financial inclusion policy and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 as both governments are currently focusing on digital economy.

“Right now, a lot of people who are going there face a lot of issues sometimes they have some currency exchange issues, sometimes they get high rates and sometimes they lose their money,” Mahmood said, adding the initiative would not only enhance convenience but also increase financial security of pilgrims performing Hajj and Umrah.

Rizwan Saeed Qureshi, an additional secretary for the Middle East in Pakistan’s foreign ministry, termed the Hajj card a “good omen” for Pakistan’s fintech sector.

“This is the first-ever pilot to the best of our understanding for cashless Hajj to start with and certainly subsequently Umrah,” he told Arab News.

“Hopefully it will succeed as a pilot and then expand in terms of its implementation, in terms of its application, in terms of its coverage to the entire Hajj operation.”

This year’s pilgrimage is expected to run from June 14 till June 19.