ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said a Saudi delegation led by the foreign minister of the kingdom, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, would visit Pakistan soon, state-run Radio Pakistan reported on Wednesday.

Last week, Pakistani officials also said high-level delegations from Saudi Arabia’s energy sector, including officials from the energy ministry and foreign ministry as well as private players, were expected in Islamabad in January to discuss investments in oil and gas fields as well as other sectors.

“A high level Saudi delegation, including the Saudi foreign minister, will be visiting Pakistan soon, which reflects that Pakistan-Saudi Arabia relations are further strengthening,” Radio Pakistan reported. “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have deep, historical and fraternal ties,” it quoted Qureshi as saying.

The minister also said Pakistan was facing no pressure to recognize Israel and would “stick” to its stated stance on the Jewish state, which was that it would not acknowledge it until a just solution to the Palestine conflict was found.

Pakistan currently does not recognize the state of Israel over its thwarting of Palestinians’ aspirations for a state of their own. Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Sinai peninsula and the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future free state, a demand Pakistan has supported for decades.