RIYADH, 24 January — The Saudi-Pakistan Joint Economic Commission will meet here on Jan. 30. This two-day meeting is expected to discuss ways to boost bilateral trade and moves to promote joint investment in certain sectors.
The Pakistani delegation will be headed by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, the Pakistan Embassy said here yesterday.
The two countries have already forged close trade relations with Pakistani exports to Saudi Arabia amounting to $217 million in 1997-98 while its imports stood at $680 million during the same period. The two-way trade figure for 1990-2000 will exceed $1 billion mark.
The trade volume, however, declined in 1998-99 with the two sides reporting growth in trade again during the first half of this year. The balance of trade has always been in favor of the Kingdom mainly due to Pakistan's oil imports. Pakistan's share in the Saudi import market is a negligible 0.42 percent.
The two countries recently established a Joint Business Council to promote trade and investment relations. Senior diplomats said that there were currently 26 joint ventures between the two countries operating in different sectors.
Referring to the consular services offered to the Pakistani community, an embassy official said the mission had already slashed charges for consular services by 30 percent. The move will benefit over 800,000 Pakistani workers, who visit the embassy or the consulate for different services in a year.
The Pakistani mission has also taken strong measures to identify Afghan nationals working in Saudi Arabia holding Pakistani passports. The diplomats said the embassy had been confiscating 5 to 10 Pakistani passports on a daily basis from Afghans, who in turn are given documents to prove their Afghan nationality.
