KARACHI: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met Saudi Arabia’s Economy Minister Faisal bin Fadhil Alibrahim on the sidelines of the AlUla Conference 2026, where the two officials discussed investments and cooperation in technology and human capital development, the Pakistani finance ministry said on Sunday.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia share a long-standing strategic partnership in political, security and economic domains, underpinned by deep religious and cultural ties.

Both countries have moved closer to broaden their cooperation in recent months, signing a landmark defense pact in Sept. and agreeing to launch an economic cooperation framework a month later to strengthen bilateral trade and investment relations.

During their meeting on the sidelines of the AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies, the two ministers discussed follow-ups on matters relating to Saudi investments in Pakistan as well as bilateral economic cooperation.

“The Saudi minister strongly highlighted the high-quality artificial intelligence and technology talent being produced by Pakistan, noting that it ranks among the top one or two globally,” the Pakistani finance ministry said.

“He stated that Saudi Arabia is keen to leverage Pakistani tech talent to lead and support the technological transformation underway in the Kingdom.”

The development comes months after Saudi Arabia’s GO Telecom technology firm opened an artificial intelligence (AI) hub in Islamabad to boost cooperation in AI and data infrastructure.

During their meeting, Finance Minister Aurangzeb shared that Pakistan is planning to create a structured pipeline of quality human resources for key international markets, including Saudi Arabia, to generate economic impact for both sides, according to his ministry.

The Saudi minister mentioned progress on a proposed Free Trade Agreement between Pakistan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to prioritize increased trade and exchanges.

“Aurangzeb assured that dedicated teams from the Pakistani side are actively leading the process for finalizing Saudi Arabia’s investment commitments in Pakistan,” the finance ministry added.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have signed several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for investment worth billions of dollars in sectors such agriculture, technology energy and others in recent years.