PESHAWAR, Sept 1: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has said that Saudi entrepreneurs are willing to invest in various parts of the NWFP.

Talking to newsmen here on Monday, Mr Durrani said during his stay in Saudi Arabia he held a meeting with a group of leading Arab businessmen, asking them to invest in the NWFP.

He said Saudi investors were scheduled to visit the central Asian republics to explore investment opportunities.

He said he would ask Federal Finance Minister Shukat Aziz to send a letter to Saudi industrialists to make investments in Pakistan.

About his meeting with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif he said Mr Sharif had invited him to lunch in order to discuss a variety of issues. He, however, refused to reveal the nature of his talks with the former prime minister.“When politicians meet, they discuss political things,” he said.

Replying to a question he said, during their stay for Umra the Saudi government was very friendly to the Pakistani delegation. It was a reward for the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s efforts to enforce Islamic Shariat in the NWFP, he added. He said the Hisba Bill would soon be brought into the NWFP assembly for its immediate enforcement in the province and added that it was a step in the right direction.

Replying to another question he said NWFP Governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah had some reservations regarding the Hisba act but the provincial government had cleared them.

He said President Pervez Musharraf had not emphasized the construction of the Kalabagh dam, instead he had underlined the need for a dam to meet the irrigation requirements of the country.