World News | Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto in Saudi Arabia to Enhance Bilateral Cooperation

Islamabad, Nov 9 (PTI) Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is visiting Riyadh to further deepen the country's engagement with Saudi Arabia for enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation between the two brotherly countries, it was announced on Wednesday.

During the two-day visit on November 9-10, he will co-chair the Joint Sub-Committee meeting of the Political & Security pillar of the Saudi-Pakistan Supreme Coordination Council (SPSCC) with his Saudi counterpart, according to Foreign Office.

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He will also hold a meeting with the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) during his visit.

Besides the official engagements, the Foreign Minister will interact with the local media and other dignitaries of the Kingdom.

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The visit of the Foreign Minister will further deepen Pakistan's engagement with Saudi Arabia for enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation between the two brotherly countries, according to FO.

The visit is taking place ahead of an expected trip to Pakistan by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Though, officially nothing has been said about it but various media reports suggested that he would visit before the end of this month.

The two sides are expected to ink a deal for an oil refinery that Saudi Arabia is interested to build in the Gwadar area of southern Balochistan province.

The kingdom is expected to make an investment of about USD 10 billion on the mega project, according to various reports.

In 2019, Crown Prince Mohammed visited Pakistan when Imran Khan was the prime minister, and signed MoUs for an investment of USD 21 billion, including the project of a deep conversion refinery and petrochemical complex with an investment of USD 12 billion.

Subsequently, when Khan tried to cobble up a bloc of Islamic countries with the consent of Turkey and Malaysia, outside the ambit of the Saudi-dominated Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), it irked the Gulf Kingdom.

Riyadh is particularly sensitive about any move that might undermine its leadership of the 57-member pan-Islamic body.

Bilateral ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have remained strained since then.

The Sharif government is now trying to reset ties with Riyadh.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)