ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s federal cabinet on Tuesday approved the draft of a memorandum of understanding to be signed with Saudi Arabia for the exchange of students, teachers and delegations, the ministry of religious affairs said.
Pakistan has a close relationship with Saudi Arabia, which has been its friend and benefactor for decades.
“On the recommendation of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Division, the Federal Cabinet approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Government of Pakistan and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Da’wah and Guidance, Saudi Arabia,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
Speaking to Arab News, the spokesperson of the ministry of religious affairs, Muhammad Umer Butt, confirmed the development.
“The cabinet has approved the draft of the MOU which will now be signed later on,” he said. “It is about the exchange of teachers, students and delegations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia under both countries’ relevant ministries.”
Pakistanis have made various contributions to Saudi Arabia over the decades. In the 1960s, Pakistani pilots operated RSAF fighter jets during Saudi Arabia’s Al-Wadiah conflict with Yemen as the PAF raised the RSAF (1969). The Pakistan Army was also crucial in helping the Saudi authorities put an end to the 1979 Grand Mosque Seizure.
The immigration of Pakistanis is believed to have helped create contemporary Saudi Arabia, with doctors, engineers, professors and other professionals from Pakistan spending their lives in Saudi Arabia and making significant contributions to the country’s growth and social advancement.
Pakistanis living in Saudi Arabia are the largest source of remittances to the South Asian nation. According to a 2023 estimate, 2.64 million Pakistanis live and work in Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan cabinet approves draft MoU for student, teacher exchanges with Saudi Arabia
https://arab.news/6tu25
Pakistan cabinet approves draft MoU for student, teacher exchanges with Saudi Arabia
- Spokesperson religious affairs ministry confirms draft approved, agreement to be signed in coming days
- Pakistan has a close relationship with Saudi Arabia, which has been its friend and benefactor for decades
Hundreds of migrants, including Pakistanis, land in Greece after search operation at sea
- Rescued migrants were taken to a temporary facility on Crete after reaching the port of Agia Galini
- Greece has made deportations of rejected asylum seekers a priority under its migration policy
ATHENS: Greece’s Coast Guard rescued about 540 migrants from a fishing boat off Europe’s southernmost island of Gavdos on Friday, one of the biggest groups to reach the country in recent months.
The migrants were found during a Greek search operation some 16 nautical miles (29.6 km) off Gavdos, a Coast Guard statement said. They are all well and are being taken to a temporary facility on the nearby island of Crete after reaching the port of Agia Galini, a Coast Guard official said, adding most of the migrants were men from Bangladesh, Egypt and Pakistan.
In a separate incident on Thursday, the EU’s border agency Frontex rescued 65 men and five women from two migrant boats in distress off Gavdos, the Greek Coast Guard said.
Greece was on the front line of a 2015-16 migration crisis when more than a million people from the Middle East and Africa landed on its shores before moving on to other European countries, mainly Germany.
Flows have ebbed since then, but both Crete and Gavdos — the two Mediterranean islands nearest to the African coast — have seen a steep rise in migrant boats, mainly from Libya, reaching their shores over the past year and deadly accidents remain common along that route.
Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy will be eligible for help in dealing with migratory pressures under a new EU mechanism when the bloc’s pact on migration and asylum enters into force in mid-2026.
The center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said deportation of rejected asylum seekers will be a priority.
