ISLAMABAD: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced 50 scholarships for the poor and underprivileged students from Baluchistan in undergraduate and graduate programmes at renowned Saudi universities.

The announcement was made by Saudi Ambassador Nawaf Syed Al-Maliki during a meeting with Chairman Senate Mohammad Sadiq Sanjrani at the Parliament House on Friday.

He said the fully funded scholarship would provide tuition fee and other necessary expenses to students, besides a stipend to cater to the monthly expenses.

Saudi envoy said the number of scholarships would be doubled in the next year to facilitate more students from the province.

According to a statement issued by Senate Secretariat, the Saudi ambassador also lauded the efforts and contribution of the Senatechairman for the socio-economic prosperity of the people of Baluchistan.

The statement said that matters of mutual interests also came under discussion during the meeting.

The Senate chairman said that both Pakistan and Saudi Arab shared identical views on promotion of regional peace and security and could play effective role in promoting peace and harmony.

He said the region was faced with problems of terrorism and extremism and especially the Muslim nations were bearing the brunt of such social evils. He said that collective efforts on the part of leadership of the Muslim world can complement global efforts towards lasting peace.

Senate chairman also lauded the contributions of Saudi Envoy in promoting bilateral relations. He said that scholarships would provide a better opportunity for exposure besides enhancing skills as the students would participate in research activities and explore new avenues of learning. He thanked the Saudi government for this generous gesture which would help alleviate miseries of the people of Baluchistan.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2018