ISLAMABAD: A high level Saudi delegation will visit Pakistan very soon to explore investment opportunities in the tourism sector, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told Arab News on Thursday.
“During my current visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this month, I talked to the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud regarding Prime Minister Imran Khan’s request to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to send a delegation to explore tourism potential and investment opportunities in Pakistan. He [Prince Faisal] assured me that Saudi Arabia was going to send the delegation to Pakistan very soon,” Qureshi said.
The foreign minister informed that the prime minister had talked to the Saudi crown prince on phone last month and apprised him about the potential of tourism in Pakistan.
“The prime minister said that Pakistan had a lot of potential in tourism, and new international assessments have placed the South Asian state as the top tourism destination for 2020,” Qureshi said, adding that Khan had also sought help from the Saudi crown prince to secure investment in Pakistan’s tourism sector.
“PM Khan asked the Saudi crown prince to help promote tourism in Pakistan and requested him to send a high level delegation to assess the country’s tourism potential and identify investment opportunities in this economic sector,” he said.
Pakistan’s envoy to the Kingdom, Raja Ali Ejaz, told Arab News last month that Prime Minister Imran Khan had invited Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit Pakistan during the winter season to promote tourism.
“A formal letter of invitation has been forwarded to the Royal Court for further processing,” Riaz said. “The invitation has been extended because of the crown prince’s wish during his visit to Pakistan in February 2019 to visit the country’s picturesque northern regions.”
Many international publications, including Forbes and Traveler, have added Pakistan to their list of must-visit places in 2020. The Forbes has included the country’s northern areas to its “10 Best-Under-The-Radar Trips” for this year, calling it the “ultimate” location for adventure seekers.
Saudi delegation to explore tourism investment in Pakistan — FM Qureshi
https://arab.news/nz2u4
Saudi delegation to explore tourism investment in Pakistan — FM Qureshi
- The foreign minister says PM Khan requested the Saudi crown prince to help promote tourism in Pakistan
- Many international publications have added the South Asian country to their list of must-visit places in 2020
Pakistan PM orders strategy to improve project execution as multilateral lenders propose reforms
- Shehbaz Sharif says he will personally lead a steering committee to speed up priority projects
- Four working groups proposed to streamline approvals, procurement, land issues and staffing
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed officials to draw up a detailed strategy to improve the planning and execution of development projects, saying he would personally chair a steering committee aimed at ensuring timely and transparent completion of priority schemes.
The move came during a meeting where the World Bank and Asian Development Bank presented recommendations to the government on strengthening project implementation.
According to the prime minister’s office, participants received a briefing that said project approvals involve multiple steps and need simplification, while timely procurement and better readiness tools could also help accelerate implementation.
“National projects of critical importance must be completed transparently and on time,” Sharif told officials, according to the statement. “This is our priority.”
He said the federal and provincial steering committee on development-sector reforms would be headed by him.
The statement said four working groups were also proposed during the meeting: one to review approval and preparation processes, a second to modernize procurement, a third to address land acquisition and resettlement challenges, and a fourth to focus on human-resource alignment and staff deployment for development schemes.
Sharif thanked the World Bank and Asian Development Bank for their support and said development projects must be aligned with the objectives of Pakistan’s Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and provincial Annual Development Plans (ADPs).
The meeting was attended by senior federal ministers, provincial representatives, senior civil servants and the country directors of both multilateral lenders.
