September 22, 2006	Friday	Sha'aban 28, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: An exhibition of Saudi products will soon be organised in Islamabad and a delegation from Saudi Arabia will shortly be visiting Pakistan to give final touches to the plan.

Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, Saudi Arabian Ambassador in Pakistan Ali Awadh Asseri said Pakistan should also arrange an exhibition of its products in Saudi Arabia so that the businessmen of his country could know about the range of products they could buy from Pakistan.

He said he had seen many quality products in Faisalabad which could be exported to Saudi Arabia. “Of all the friendships between nations, there is none like the one that exists between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan,” he remarked. He, however, agreed that the volume of trade between the two countries was not commensurate with the excellent relationship between the two countries.

Mr Asseri said the reason was lack of knowledge. He stressed that the two countries should identify areas to promote bilateral trade. He said both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were members of the WTO now and had signed various agreements which would help boost the volume of trade.

The ambassador said there was a simple procedure for Pakistani businessmen to get a visa to Saudi Arabia. He said they did not need a Saudi Kafeel and get a visa in a single day. He said a commercial attaché has been appointed in the Saudi embassy to provide required trade information to the Pakistani businessmen.

He said a delegation of 15 Pakistani businessmen had recently visited Saudi Arabia and interacted with their Saudi counterparts.

Answering a question, he said the Saudi embassy was issuing 2,000 to 3,000 umra visas every day. He said the embassy would stop receiving umra visa applications on October 9.