Pakistan's Sindh government invites Saudi businessmen to invest in province

ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province invited Saudi Arabia’s business community to “take benefits of investment opportunities available in the province,” a statement issued by Sindh Governor House said on Thursday. 

Pakistan enjoys decades-old fraternal ties with the Kingdom, with whom it has entered into many partnerships in the sectors of defense, trade, economy and education. 

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directed a study to increase the Kingdom's investments in the South Asian country to $10 billion from the previous $1 billion it had announced in August.

He also asked the Saudi Development Fund (SDF) to consider raising the ceiling for Saudi deposits into the Pakistan central bank as part of measures to support the country’s struggling economy. Pakistan, reeling from cataclysmic floods that caused damages of over $30 billion last year, is grappling with soaring inflation, depleting foreign exchange reserves that are barely enough to cover three months of imports and mounting external financing requirements. 

On Thursday, Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori held a meeting with prominent Saudi businessman Mazin M. Al Moallim in Karachi and invited him to invest in the province.  

“[During the meeting], the two sides held a discussion on bilateral trade and exchange of delegations and Sindh Governor Kamran Khan Tessori invited Saudi Arabian businessmen to take benefits of the business opportunities available in the province,” the statement said.

Tessori thanked Saudi Arabia for “always standing by Pakistan in testing times", adding that Islamabad values its relations with Riyadh.

Moallim, who is the president of Riyadh-based luxury jewelry company Al Moallim United Limited, acknowledged that different sectors in Sindh are “attractive” for the Saudi business community.