ISLAMABAD: Saudi Deputy Trade Minister Abdulrahman Alharbi has acknowledged Pakistan as one of the top destinations for making investments.

During the first meeting of Pak-Saudi Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment in Riyadh on Monday, both the parties reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen their trade and investment ties in line with the understandings developed during its meeting held in Islamabad last month.

The Saudi side appreciated the attractiveness of Pakistan as a preferred destination of investment in view of its macroeconomic indicators, growth projects, strategic location and overall investment regime.

The kingdom also expressed its interest in investing in Pakistan in many sectors including petrochemicals, dairy, livestock, mining etc. It was agreed that Saudi Arabia will send a technical team to Pakistan to review the sector specific opportunities and projects.

The two countries agreed to activate Pak-Saudi Joint Business Council within two months. It was further agreed that Pakistan will hold Single Country Exhibition in Saudi Arabia in 2018. In order to give further impetus to the trade relations, it was agreed to mutually facilitate the trade by overcoming the issues like visa fees, registration of companies, shipment delays and mutual recognition of standards

Commerce Minister You­nus Dagha appreciated the progress made on various important matters in today’s meeting and assured support to Saudi investors looking to invest in various sectors.

The next meeting of the Joint Working Group will be held in Islamabad in April.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2018