KARACHI: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held talks with Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif in Riyadh on Tuesday, with discussions focused on security cooperation, police training exchanges and resolving the long-standing legal status of Rohingya Muslims living in the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia hosts a large Pakistani diaspora and remains one of Pakistan’s closest security partners. The two countries routinely cooperate on counterterrorism, policing and law enforcement, while Pakistan has long advocated for regularizing the legal status of Rohingya Muslims who migrated to the Kingdom decades ago.

“Talks were also held regarding resolving the long-standing issue of the legal status of Rohingya Muslims,” the Pakistani interior ministry said in a statement. 

During the meeting, the two sides reviewed security cooperation and agreed to establish training exchange programs for police and paramilitary forces. They also decided that the Pakistan–Saudi Interior Ministries Working Group will convene its next session next month.

The Saudi interior minister, according to the statement, thanked Naqvi for Pakistan’s role in efforts related to the legal status of Rohingya Muslims and conveyed condolences over Monday’s suicide attack on the Federal Constabulary headquarters in Peshawar in which three personnel were killed. 

General Fayyadh bin Hameed Al-Rowaili, Chief of General Staff (CGS) of the Saudi armed forces, also visited Pakistan this week and held separate meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad Mirza.