President Alvi meets Saudi ambassador

ISLAMABAD: With an aim to cement the historic ties shared by Islamabad and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Pakistan, Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Maliki, met with President Dr. Arif Alvi at the President House in the capital, on Tuesday, where bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest were discussed during the meeting.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have enjoyed a long and deep friendship over the years, with thousands of Pakistani laborers making up the Kingdom’s workforce and contributing to the country’s economy in the form of remittances sent home.
After assuming office in August this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan chose Saudi Arabia as the first country for his maiden trip and visited the Kingdom once again, earlier this month, to participate in a prestigious business conference in Riyadh, which is also known as the “Davos in the desert”.
Most recently, Saudi Arabia extended $3 billion as financial support to Pakistan, with an additional $3 billion in deferred oil payments, to help Islamabad deal with its ongoing economic crisis.
Last month, a high-level Saudi delegation also visited Islamabad to hold talks with Pakistani authorities, as both sides discussed areas for potential investment, Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood had told Arab News at the time.
Among those investments are plans for  a multibillion-dollar oil refinery which Saudi Arabia has offered to set up in Pakistan’s port city of Gwadar.