Pakistan's Foreign Minister Zardari to embark on Saudi Arabia's visit today to buttress bilateral ties
Nov 09, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], November 9 : Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday will embark on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, ARY News reported.
According to a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, during his two-day visit, Bilawal Zardari will meet his Saudi Arabian counterpart.
Bilawal Bhutto would also chair the political and security council of the Supreme Coordination Council. The statement further stated that the Minister would also be meeting the General Secretary of the GCC.
The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chief would also address local KSA media and meet with other Saudi officials. The tour would be focused on having Pak-Saudi relations, ARY News reported citing the statement.
Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS) is likely to visit Pakistan in the third week of November, ARY News quoted diplomatic sources saying.
According to diplomatic sources, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammad Bin Salman would visit Pakistan on November 21. The Saudi PM would is expected to announce an additional bailout package of USD 4.2 billion for Pakistan.
A special Saudi security team will visit Pakistan to scrutinize the security situation ahead of the visit, sources said.
Earlier, last week, Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that Saudi Arabia will provide an additional amount of USD 4.2 billion to Pakistan, Geo News reported.
"China and Saudi Arabia have given assurances to Pakistani delegations under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during recent visits that they will take care of Islamabad's financial requirements till June 2023. Now the real effective exchange rate (REER) in terms of rupee against the US dollar has come down to Rs190 against the US dollar and no one will be allowed to play with our exchange rate," said Dar.
Both financial packages will ease the struggling economy of Pakistan as the foreign currency reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan stand at USD 8.9 billion at the moment, reported Geo News.
Sharing details about the outcome of Saudi Arabia's visit, the minister said that they also assured to consider Pakistan's request for an additional USD 3 billion in deposits and jacking up the oil facility on deferred payment by an additional USD 1.2 billion. Besides, an additional amount of USD 4.2 billion would be considered by Saudi Arabian authorities, reported Geo News.
He said that Saudi Arabia would also roll over existing deposits of USD 3 billion and their oil facility of USD 1.2 billion on deferred payment (USD100 million on monthly basis) would continue till June 2023.
Therefore, the total Saudi package is expected to touch USD 8.4 billion. To another query, the minister said that Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman is going to visit Pakistan within the ongoing month, reported Geo News.
