KARACHI: Saudi Arabia’s Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih will visit Pakistan with a high-level delegation from Oct. 9-11, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson said on Monday, stressing that the visit would aim to enhance bilateral cooperation and economic partnership between the two allies. 

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been closely working in recent months to increase bilateral trade and investment deals, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reaffirming the Kingdom’s commitment to expedite an investment package of $5 billion to the South Asian country earlier this year. 

Pakistan has increasingly engaged with regional partners, especially Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Middle East, for mutually rewarding economic ties and partnerships. Islamabad sees lucrative foreign trade and investment deals as its key to escape a prolonged economic crisis that has drained its resources, triggered high inflation and weakened its currency. 

“A high-level Saudi delegation led by Minister for Investment Engineer Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih will visit Pakistan from 9th to 11th of October 2024,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson, told reporters at a press briefing. She said Al-Falih’s delegation will comprise people from Saudi Arabia’s government agencies and private sector, which will meet Pakistan’s prime minister and president during the visit. 

“This visit is aimed at lending positive impetus to enhanced bilateral cooperation and mutually rewarding economic partnership,” she added. 

Separately, Baloch paid tribute to the 42,000 people killed by Israeli armed forces since its war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. She said Pakistan remains “deeply concerned” about the people of Gaza and Palestine as they suffer starvation and genocide. 

“The past year has seen Israel’s indiscriminate and horrifying attacks on civilian targets, including hospitals, schools, and shelters,” she noted. 

The foreign office spokesperson called on the United Nations Security Council to act decisively and impose an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, calling for Israel to be held accountable for its “war crimes” in the Middle East. 

Baloch criticized Israel’s foreign minister’s statement banning UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering Israel, saying Islamabad condemns measures that hinder the functioning of the UN and its agencies in occupied Palestine. 

“And in that respect, we urge the international community to take measures to protect that role of the United Nations,” she said. “We also welcome the decision by the UN Security Council condemning the latest measure regarding the UN Secretary-General by the Israeli occupation authorities.”