ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud will visit Islamabad on Thursday (today) for thanking Pakistani leadership for supporting Riyadh’s position on the Kuala Lumpur summit and shunning the event, a diplomatic source said.

The visit, which will be the first by the current Saudi foreign minister since assuming office in October, has also been officially announced by the Foreign Office.

“The Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, will be visiting Islamabad on 26 December 2019. …This would be his maiden visit to Pakistan, during which the exchange of views would cover bilateral matters and regional issues of mutual interest,” an FO statement said.

Foreign Minister Saud will meet his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Prime Minister Imran Khan during the trip.

Diplomatic source says purpose of the trip is to thank PM Khan for not attending KL summit

The source, in one of the Arab diplomatic missions, disclosed that the visit was scheduled only a couple of days ago. “The purpose of the visit is to thank PM Khan for his decision of not attending KL summit, and express solidarity with Islamabad after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s allegations that Saudi pressure forced Pakistan to skip the event,” he said requesting anonymity.

“The Saudis also want to dispel the impression, which was reinforced by Erdogan’s allegations, that their attitude towards Islamabad is patronising,” he added.

A statement issued by the Saudi Embassy had earlier rejected the allegations of coercion as “baseless and fake” and said there was “respect for sovereignty and independence of decisions” in the relationship with Islamabad.

Pakistan’s position on PM Khan’s no show at the summit in Malaysia has been that more “time and efforts were needed to address the concerns of major Muslim countries regarding possible division in the Ummah”.

Riyadh was opposed to the KL summit as it believed that it was an attempt to create an institution parallel to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which it dominates, and could lead to a split in Muslim countries.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad has rejected the Saudi concerns and had during his speech at the summit said that the new platform would be used for developing newer technologies using the existing capabilities of participating states.

The source said the Saudi foreign minister could come with a few offerings in return for the support.

The Foreign Office said Pak-Saudi relations were “deep-rooted, longstanding, and fraternal”. It said the two countries were committed to further strengthening bilateral cooperation in all fields and high-level visits would serve to further deepen and broaden mutual collaboration.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2019