ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed Pakistan’s “complete solidarity” with Saudi Arabia during a phone call with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday, a day after Riyadh bombed a weapons shipment from the United Arab Emirates in Yemen that it said was intended for separatist forces.
The conversation came a day after Sharif met UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Rahim Yar Khan, a city in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, where the Emirati ruler made a private stay following an official visit to Islamabad last weekend.
Pakistan maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with the two Gulf states playing a key role in supporting its fragile economy.
“The Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif held a telephone conversation with His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, this evening,” the PM Office said in a statement circulated in Islamabad.
It said the two leaders “discussed and exchanged views on the regional situation and current developments.”
“The Prime Minister emphasized upon the need to maintain unity and harmony among the ranks of the Ummah, in the midst of various current challenges,” the statement added. “While expressing Pakistan’s complete solidarity with the Kingdom, the Prime Minister said that it was imperative to maintain regional peace and stability through dialogue and diplomacy.”
The Saudi bombing of the UAE shipment in Yemen’s southern port city of Mukalla came after heightened tensions linked to advances by the Emirates-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry earlier on Wednesday also expressed concern over renewed violence in Yemen, warning that unilateral actions by any Yemeni party could further escalate the conflict and destabilize the region.
In a statement, the ministry reaffirmed Islamabad’s support for the Kingdom’s security as well as Yemen’s unity and territorial integrity, and welcomed regional efforts aimed at de-escalating the situation and restoring peace and stability.
Saudi Arabia is a leading supplier of oil to Pakistan and has extended billions of dollars in loans in recent years to help the South Asian nation avert default on foreign debt and manage an economic crisis.
The two countries also signed a mutual defense agreement last September that defines an attack on either country as an attack on both.
With input from AP
