ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will leave for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a two-day business conference in Riyadh with an aim to highlight the country’s economic potential and procure investments.
The meeting for the Future Investment Initiative (FII), to be held from October 23 to 25, will look at “projecting Pakistan’s economic and investment potential”, a statement released by the Foreign Office read on Friday.
“The conference provides an opportunity to interact with important business leaders who are interested in investing in Pakistan,” the Foreign Office said, adding that PM Khan will be attending the conference on the special invitation of King Salman and was also expected to share his vision for Pakistan, for the next five years, with the group members.
The conference termed as “Davos in the desert” will host leading businesspersons, investors, corporate giants, representatives of hi-tech industry and major media outlets in one platform.
PM Khan will also call upon King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to discuss “matters of mutual interest.” “The FII is now an annual feature in Saudi Arabia. The first FII was held last year, with the participation of 3,800 people from 90 countries. This year’s conference is also likely to attract a large number leading figures,” the statement read.
The Prime Minister’s participation in the conference “signifies our solidarity with the Kingdom in its efforts to become an emerging hub for international business and investment.”
Earlier, Pakistan’s ruling party’s head of public relations, Azhar Laghari, also confirmed to Arab News that the PM would be visiting Saudi Arabia from Monday. “Good things will come up (during the visit)… and a lot of things will get materialized,” he had said at the time.
This is PM Khan’s second visit to the Kingdom in less than a month, after he toured the country during his first foreign trip on September 18, after assuming office in August this year.
Dr. Athar Ahmed, a renowned economist, said that the prime minister could use the conference as a platform to highlight investment opportunities in Pakistan and offer incentives to leading business companies and investors.
“The FII is going to be one of the world’s biggest business conferences and Pakistan should utilize the platform to attract foreign direct investment,” he told Arab News.
Ahmed suggested that the Pakistani delegation should seek investment, trade and economic cooperation from the Gulf countries to overcome its looming economic crisis instead of a proposed bailout package by the International Monetary Fund.
PM Khan to attend Saudi business conference
PM Khan to attend Saudi business conference
- Participation aimed at luring investors to the country
- Will also call upon King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
Imran Khan not a ‘national security threat,’ ex-PM’s party responds to Pakistan military
- Pakistan’s military spokesperson on Friday described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat”
- PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan says words used by military spokesperson for Khan were “not appropriate”
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday responded to allegations by Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry from a day earlier, saying that he was not a “national security threat.”
Chaudhry, who heads the military’s media wing as director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), spoke to journalists on Friday, in which he referred to Khan as a “mentally ill” person several times during the press interaction. Chaudhry described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat.”
The military spokesperson was responding to Khan’s social media post this week in which he accused Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir of being responsible for “the complete collapse of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.”
“The people of Pakistan stand with Imran Khan, they stand with PTI,” the party’s secretary-general, Salman Akram Raja, told reporters during a news conference.
“Imran Khan is not a national security threat. Imran Khan has kept the people of this country united.”
Raja said there were several narratives in the country, including those that created tensions along ethnic and sectarian lines, but Khan had rejected all of them and stood with one that the people of Pakistan supported.
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, flanked by Raja, criticized the military spokesperson as well, saying his press talk on Thursday had “severely disappointed” him.
“The words that were used [by the military spokesperson] were not appropriate,” Gohar said. “Those words were wrong.”
‘NATURAL OUTCOME’
Speaking to reporters earlier on Saturday, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif defended the military spokesperson’s remarks against Khan.
“When this kind of language is used for individuals as well as for institutions, then a reaction is a natural outcome,” he said.
“The same thing is happening on the Twitter accounts being run in his [Khan’s] name. If the DG ISPR has given any reaction to it, then I believe it was a very measured reaction.”
Khan, who was ousted after a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, blames the country’s powerful military for removing him from power by colluding with his political opponents. Both deny the allegations.
The former prime minister, who has been in prison since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, also alleges his party was denied victory by the army and his political rivals in the 2024 general election through rigging.
The army and the government both deny his allegations.
