ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his UAE counterpart Shaikh Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan will visit Pakistan in early 2019, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Media told Arab News on Friday.
Iftikhar Durrani said that the two royals are expected to visit the country in January and February to help “bolster bilateral and economic relationships”.
He added that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have shown an interest to invest in Pakistan. “All the deals are expected to materialize during the visits,” he said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had extended an invitation to the leaders during his recent trips to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Pakistani officials hope the visits will result in the signing of a number of business and investment deals, which could eventually provide a much-needed boost to the South Asian nation’s fragile economy.
Islamabad will seek a “deferred oil payments facility” from the UAE during Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed’s visit to Islamabad in January, Durrani said.
In October, Saudi Arabia had announced plans to extend a deferred oil payment facility worth $3 billion for Pakistan during PM Khan’s trip to the Kingdom. Durrani declined to disclose the sum of assistance from the UAE but added that both Saudi and the UAE would set up billions of dollars’ worth of oil refineries in Pakistan to help the country lower its crude oil exports.
“The federal cabinet on Thursday ratified a MoU (memorandum of understanding) of investment from Saudi Arabia regarding the setting up of an oil refinery in Gwadar,” he said, adding that “when honest leadership comes [into power], the business gets revived”.
Pakistan has improved its “ease of doing business”, while it is the prime minister’s top priority to promote businesses and investments in the country, he said.
Last week, Finance Minister Asad Umar had said that an investment package from Saudi Arabia would be announced soon and that it was going to be “the biggest foreign investment in Pakistan’s history”.
Economists said that Pakistan is going through a transition period to strengthen its economy and secure foreign investments, especially from friendly countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which in turn would help ease pressure on the current accounts deficit.
“Saudi and UAE investments in Pakistan for sure will help create job opportunities and strengthen our fragile economy,” Dr. Athar Ahmad, a senior economist, told Arab News.
Saudi, UAE crown princes to visit Pakistan early next year
Saudi, UAE crown princes to visit Pakistan early next year
- Move expected to boost bilateral and economic ties with both allies
- Economists say investments from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi will help create job opportunities in the country
Islamabad hits back after Indian minister blames Pakistan army for ‘ideological hostility’
- Jaishankar tells a public forum most of India’s problems with Islamabad stem from Pakistan’s military establishment
- Pakistan condemns the remarks, accusing India of waging a propaganda drive to deflect from its destabilizing actions
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan accused India on Sunday of running a propaganda campaign to malign its state institutions, a day after Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar attributed what he described as Pakistan’s “ideological hostility” toward New Delhi to the country’s powerful army.
Addressing a public forum in New Delhi, Jaishankar said most of India’s problems with Pakistan stemmed from its military establishment, which he argued had cultivated and sustained an entrenched animosity toward India.
His remarks came months after a brief but intense military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors, during which both sides exchanged artillery and missile fire and deployed drones and fighter jets.
Responding to the comments, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi called them “highly inflammatory, baseless and irresponsible.”
“Pakistan is a responsible state and its all institutions, including armed forces, are a pillar of national security, dedicated to safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country,” Andrabi said in a statement. “The May 2025 conflict vividly demonstrated Pakistan armed forces’ professionalism as well as their resolve to defend the motherland and the people of Pakistan against any Indian aggression in a befitting, effective yet responsible manner.”
“The attempts by Indian leadership to defame Pakistan’s state institutions and its leadership are a part of a propaganda campaign designed to distract attention from India’s destabilising actions in the region and beyond as well as state-sponsored terrorism in Pakistan,” he said, adding that such “incendiary rhetoric” showed the extent of India’s disregard for regional peace and stability.
Andrabi said that rather than making “misleading remarks about the armed forces of Pakistan,” India should confront the “fascist and revisionist Hindutva ideology that has unleashed a reign of mob justice, lynchings, arbitrary detentions and demolition of properties and places of worship.”
He warned that the Indian state and its leadership had become hostage to “this terror in the name of religion.”
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947. They have also engaged in countless border skirmishes and major military standoffs, including the 1999 Kargil conflict.
The four-day conflict in May 2025 ended with a US-brokered ceasefire, after Washington said both sides had expressed willingness to pursue dialogue.
Pakistan said it was ready to discuss all outstanding issues, but India declined talks.
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