KARACHI: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Thursday discussed ways to expedite work on the Kingdom’s investment projects pledged under the $21 billion deals signed between the two countries in February this year.
A Saudi delegation headed by the Kingdom’s Deputy Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid bin Saleh Al-Mudaifer met Prime Minister’s Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood and Chairman Board of Investment (BoI) Zubair Gilani to review progress on the implementation of investment projects.
“The visiting Saudi delegation held discussions to expedite projects in energy, petroleum and mining sectors,” a BoI official, who declined to be named, told Arab News.
During the meeting, the Saudi “delegation appreciated the progress on the investment front made during the previous year and described it as more the combined progress of the last ten years,” the official added.
Pakistan has also offered Saudi investors to explore investment opportunities in power sector which has already been identified for privatization.
Saudi Arabia is also interested in the mining sector, especially in the mineral resources of the country’s southwestern Balochistan province. “Mining in Balochistan is a provincial subject but the BoI has assured full support to Saudi investors. Where the potential exists, the BoI will support the implementation of projects,” the official informed.
Faced with energy shortage, Pakistan is taking steps to increase the share of renewable energy in its total energy mix which is dominated by fossil fuel at present. “During the meeting it was also decided to speed up the progress on the project for renewable power generation in Balochistan,” the official said.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had signed seven investment agreements during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s official visit to Islamabad in February this year.
These consist of a mega oil refinery that will be constructed in Pakistan’s Balochistan province for $11 billion and will house a petrochemical complex project in Gwadar deep-sea port.
The proposed mega oil refinery and petrochemical complex to be set up by Saudi Arabia will help Pakistan with technology, skill enhancement and human capital development. It will also result in employment generation and development of downstream, allied sectors.
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia review investment projects signed in February
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia review investment projects signed in February
- Saudi deputy minister of energy meets Pakistan’s commerce minister and BoI chief
- The two sides review progress on investment in energy, petroleum and mining sectors
UN says 270,000 Afghans have returned from Iran, Pakistan this year
- UNHCR says 110,000 Afghans returned from Iran while 160,000 returned from Pakistan since start of 2026
- Return numbers seem to have risen since Gulf war erupted on Feb. 28, says UNHCR official in Afghanistan
GENEVA: Some 270,000 Afghans have returned to their country from Pakistan and Iran so far this year, the UN said Tuesday, warning that the escalating Middle East war risked pushing the numbers higher.
UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, said that 110,000 Afghans had returned from Iran and another 160,000 had returned from Pakistan since the start of 2026.
And the numbers seem to have risen since the Middle East erupted on February 28, with the United States and Israel unleashing a barrage of strikes on Iran, and Tehran responding with drone and missile strikes on Israeli and US interests across the region.
Since then, there have been some 1,700 returns from Iran to Afghanistan each day, Arafat Jamal, UNHCR’s representative in Afghanistan, told reporters in Geneva.
Speaking from Islam Qala, on the Afghan-Iranian border, he said the situation there was “deceptively calm.”
“Returns are orderly but freighted with tension and apprehension,” he said, adding that with the hostilities elsewhere escalating, “I do fear there is more to come.”
“We are preparing for massive returns.”
He pointed out that Afghanistan was “facing the ramifications of what is happening with Iran,” while clashes have erupted along the Afghan border with Pakistan.
The new Middle East war, he warned, was “layering itself on top of an existing war on another frontier,” Jamal said.
UNHCR highlighted that the latest crises came after returns to Afghanistan had already been “exceptionally high” in recent years.
More than five million Afghans had returned from neighboring countries in the past two years, including 1.9 million returning from Iran last year alone.
Jamal warned that “many Afghan families are now facing cycles of displacement: first forced to flee Afghanistan, later displaced again inside Iran due to conflict, and now returning once more to Afghanistan.”
“And upon return in Afghanistan, the triply-displaced enter a spiral of precarity and uncertainty.”
Returns from Pakistan had meanwhile stabilized in recent weeks, as the main crossing point at Torkham remained closed due to the tensions there, Jamal said.
But he warned that “movements could increase sharply once the border reopens.”
UNHCR and the UN children’s agency UNICEF said Tuesday they were working to strengthen their capacity to operate at the borders and within Afghanistan.
But “given the scale of returns and the financial constraints facing humanitarian operations, additional support will be needed if arrivals increase,” UNHCR said, without specifying the amount needed.
