ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday hosted a Saudi business delegation led by Prince Mansour bin Mohammed bin Saad Al Saud, chairman of the Saudi-Pakistan Joint Business Council, as both sides held talks in Islamabad to expand trade and investment ties.
The delegation’s visit under the framework of the Saudi-Pakistan Joint Business Council will guide expanded economic cooperation and follows the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement signed between the two countries on Sept. 17.
Speaking at a luncheon in honor of the delegation, Sharif praised Saudi Arabia’s “unwavering and eternal” support for Pakistan, saying the recently signed defense pact had formalized decades of strategic partnership between the two nations and opened the door to deeper economic collaboration.
“And the agreement which we have signed, it’s basically a formalization of our brotherly arrangements which were there in an informal fashion for decades and that has been formalized and I think since we are brothers and brothers has always come to help brothers and that is what this agreement all about,” Sharif said.
The prime minister described his recent visit to Riyadh on last month as “exceptional,” saying it reflected a “new level of warmth” from Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, whose leadership, he said, had transformed the Kingdom’s society and economy.
Sharif said both sides were now ready to translate the defense pact’s spirit of cooperation into joint ventures across trade, agriculture, food security, construction, and research, pledging to personally work with Saudi leaders and investors to deliver results.
The Saudi delegation, comprising prominent business figures, was in Islamabad to follow up on investment and trade opportunities identified during Sharif’s visit to Riyadh last month. Prince Mansour told participants that Saudi Arabia’s government and private sector were keen to invest in Pakistan’s food security, agriculture, meat processing, construction, and pharmaceutical industries.
“We have lots of interest from our government and from our leadership and also for the private sector to be invested in Pakistan,” Prince Mansour said, adding that the visit aimed to “deliver on strategic projects” under the business council’s framework.
The meeting is part of a broader diplomatic and economic reset between Islamabad and Riyadh, which have in recent months expanded cooperation across defense, investment, and labor mobility, as Pakistan seeks to strengthen ties with its largest source of remittances and one of its closest regional allies.
