ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia is going to invest $500 million to strengthen Pakistan’s energy sector, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced on Wednesday, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.

The investment will come under agreements on cooperation in energy and infrastructure that were signed during Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s last week visit to the kingdom.

Last year, Khan promised that by 2030, 60 percent of all energy produced in Pakistan will be clean energy. Currently the country gets over 60 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels, nearly 30 percent from hydropower, 5 percent from nuclear power and below 5 percent from renewables.

“The $500 million from Saudi Arabia would improve Pakistan’s energy mix balance,” Qureshi said, adding that it would also help decrease electricity rates.

About 30 percent of Pakistan’s population still lacks access to electric power due to its high costs in the country, according to World Bank data.

Qureshi, who was a part of Khan’s entourage during the recent Saudi Arabia visit, said that a delegation of Saudi officials would visit Pakistan after Eid Al-Fitr. He added that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, on whose invitation Khan visited the kingdom, would “soon” also pay his second visit to Pakistan.

When the crown prince visited Pakistan in February 2019, the two countries signed agreements for $20 billion investment projects.