ISLAMABAD: A high-level Pakistani delegation is currently visiting Saudi Arabia to advance Islamabad-Riyadh economic ties in a “structured and result-oriented manner,” Pakistan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ahmad Farooq said on Monday.

The delegation, led by Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan and National Food Security Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain along with officials from Pakistan’s Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), arrived on Sept. 25 and is reportedly working on a two-month plan to shape bilateral cooperation. Formed in 2023, the SIFC is a civil-military body that aims to attract foreign investment, especially from Gulf countries.

Pakistan has tried to strengthen its business-to-business (B2B) relations with the Kingdom in recent years, with both sides signing 34 memorandums of understanding and agreements worth $2.8 billion during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Riyadh last October. The agreements aimed to enhance private sector collaboration and commercial partnerships.

The visit of the Pakistani delegation comes after Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark defense pact during Sharif’s state visit to Riyadh this month. While the pact is meant to enhance joint deterrence and deepen decades of military and security cooperation, many analysts believe the agreement will likely open new avenues of economic cooperation between the two nations.

“The visit comes within the framework of the High-Level Taskforce for Economic Cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which provides an institutional mechanism to advance bilateral economic ties in a structured and result-oriented manner,” Ambassador Farooq told Arab News.

“These meetings are part of the ongoing efforts to further deepen cooperation between the two countries across a wide spectrum of sectors, including trade, investment, energy, infrastructure, technology, and human resource development.”

Arab News reached out to Pakistan’s commerce and food security ministries as well as the SIFC for more details on the visit but did not receive a response to its queries.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have close religious, cultural, diplomatic and strategic ties, particularly in trade and defense. The Kingdom is home to over two million Pakistani expatriates, who are the largest source of remittances to the South Asian country.

Saudi Arabia has also provided substantial support to Pakistan during its prolonged economic challenges in recent years, including oil cargoes on deferred payments as well as external financing and assistance with International Monetary Fund loan programs.

On Monday, PM Sharif said Pakistan’s defense agreement with the Kingdom formalized Islamabad’s longstanding fraternal ties with Riyadh, adding that it was signed in accordance with the wishes of the people of both nations.

“We have formalized it [through defense pact],” the Pakistani premier told reporters in London. “And the bottom line of the agreement is that if anyone attacks one of the brother countries, the attack will be seen as against the other. And both will combat it together with consultation.”