RIYADH, 31 January — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, held wide-ranging talks with visiting Pakistani Minister of Finance and Economy Shaukat Aziz here yesterday. The talks covered a range of bilateral and international issues of mutual concern.
The talks were also attended by Pakistani Ambassador M. Asad Durrani.
Shaukat Aziz is in Riyadh at the head of the Pakistani delegation to the sixth meeting of the Saudi-Pak Joint Economic Commission. Minister of Commerce Osama Jaafar Faqeeh co-chaired the JEC meeting here yesterday.
Speaking on the occasion, Faqeeh stressed the need for setting up four joint working groups within the framework of the JEC to accelerate the process of cooperation.
Referring to the growing relations between Riyadh and Islamabad, Faqeeh said the two countries should form four sub-committees on commerce and investment, science and technology, education and culture, and a panel of businessmen to boost cooperation in these sectors.
The Saudi minister also spoke about the performance of the Saudi-Pak Investment Company, saying that this organization had made capital and technology available for several joint projects in Pakistan. The two sides are willing to make the company stronger, he added.
Concerted efforts were being made in Pakistan for economic liberalization, deregulation, privatization and to set the national economy on the road to revival, a statement released by the Pakistan Embassy quoted Shoukat Aziz as saying. He noted that the Pakistani government had offered extremely investment-friendly incentives to encourage foreign businessmen to invest in Pakistan.
On commercial front, the Kingdom and Pakistan have forged closer relations. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding last year, formally establishing a Saudi-Pakistani Joint Business Council to promote trade and investment relations between the two sides. The two countries are exploring new areas of joint investments and have so far set up 26 joint venture projects.
Riyadh and Islamabad have great potential to cooperate in fertilizer and gas sectors. The two sides have identified some potential areas of cooperation including IT, agriculture and petrochemical sectors. The Pakistani government has also invited the Saudi companies to participate in the International Exhibition and Conference on Information Technology (ITCN Asia 2001) to be held in Karachi from March 24 to 26.
