ISLAMABAD: Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi met Saudi ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Malki on Wednesday and expressed gratitude for the kingdom’s support for Pakistan’s resolution on Kashmir at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s meeting of foreign ministers last month.

The OIC adopted a new resolution reaffirming its support for Kashmir during the 47th session of the group’s Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Niamey, Niger, last month, rejecting India’s “unilateral actions” to strip the disputed region of its special autonomy and divide it into two federally administered units.

“Deeply grateful to the Saudi foreign minister and the Saudi government for supporting Pakistan’s resolution on Kashmir at the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers,” Qureshi said in a statement, adding that Pakistan and the kingdom had “deep historical fraternal ties.”

He also thanked Saudi Arabia for its support on another resolution, against Islamophobia.

“There are many opportunities for enhancing bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in multilateral fields that need to be taken advantage of,” the foreign minister added.

He said Pakistan appreciated efforts to resolve conflicts in the Gulf region, days after Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said a resolution to a long-standing dispute with Qatar seemed “within reach.”

The United States and Kuwait have worked to end the dispute, during which Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have imposed a diplomatic, trade and travel embargo on Qatar since mid-2017.

“Pakistan, with full faith in the unity of the Ummah, supports peaceful resolution of bilateral issues between Muslim countries through dialogue,” Qureshi said.

He said Pakistan looked forward to the second meeting of the Pak-Saudi Supreme Coordination Council (SPSCC) in Riyadh in early 2021, and thanked the kingdom for its “continued support” at the Financial Action Task Force forum.