ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are expected to sign an environmental cooperation agreement next week, a senior advisor to Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Saturday.
The agreement was supposed to be signed during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Saudi Arabia but was postponed due to some technical glitches that have since been removed, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam told Arab News.
“I shall most likely be signing the agreement with my Saudi counterpart by the end of the next week,” Aslam said.
“We have got the final approved version. The Saudi ambassador visited and handed me the document which has been endorsed by the Saudi Royal Court and Pakistan’s cabinet. The agreement is now ready for signatures.”
The green cooperation idea started when Khan welcomed Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's new "Green Saudi Arabia" and "Green Middle East" programs and offered assistance in implementing them.
"Our partnership with the kingdom will herald a new era of environmental cooperation, generate thousands of green jobs and result in a productive collaboration on ecosystem restoration across the region," Aslam said.
"I can safely predict that because of the green vision of both Prime Minister Imran Khan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, this will be the strongest cementing block between the two countries."
Saudi Arabia's green initiatives are part of the crown prince’s Vision 2030 plan to reduce its reliance on oil revenues and improve quality of life. The crown prince unveiled the ambitious campaigns in March. They will see Saudi Arabia planting 10 billion trees in the coming decades and working with other regional states to plant another 40 billion trees, reduce carbon emissions and combat pollution and land degradation.
Khan said they complimented Pakistan’s own initiatives to battle climate change, especially the 10 Billion Tree Tsunami project — a five-year tree-planting program launched in 2018, with the aim of countering rising temperatures, flooding, droughts and other extreme weather in the country that scientists link to climate change.
