Abdulwahab Al-Fayez
The Pakistani brothers are one of the world’s most valued and loving people of Saudi Arabia. We still remember the survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, entitled “People’s Perception of Saudi Arabia in Others” published in October 2013. It turned out that 95 percent of them had positive feelings towards Saudi Arabia, and no negative views or feelings were recorded of them going there. I assume the situation has not changed.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the new Pakistani Prime Minister, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, announced that his first official visit would be to Saudi Arabia. This is a step that the Pakistani political leaders are used to. Their feelings are a reflection of the feelings of friendship and love that the Pakistani people show to Saudi Arabia, the leadership and the people. Our country deserves this appreciation because it has been close to Pakistan for decades in all its affairs, worries, joys and sorrows from the era of the founder King Abdulaziz to our prosperous era led by the Keeper of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his trusted Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. The two countries have been striving since the founding of Pakistan in 1947 to develop commercial, cultural, religious, political and strategic relations.
The question that has always occurred to me about the relationship with Pakistan is: Why did the two countries not invest in the depth and privacy of this relationship in the commercial, investment, cultural, educational and research fields? The relations are distinguished in the political, security and military fields, while the economic relations have not stood at the hoped-for level, and the implications of this can be found in the figures and statistics of bilateral trade and investment.
But we thank God that the leadership in the two countries was at the level of trust and the level of aspirations and hope. The answer to this question comes in the final statement issued after the visit of the Pakistani Prime Minister. The statement emphasizes the importance of (the close historical relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan), as the visit came in this context, and most importantly, that the two parties agreed to achieve what we are striving for, namely: (the importance of the strengthening of work by the Saudi-Pakistani Supreme Coordinating Council, the diversification of intra-trade between the two fraternal countries, and the intensification of private-sector communication in the two countries to discuss trade and investment opportunities and enter into tangible partnerships translate.
What the two governments agreed on was the one that needed strong pressure, and we mean the development of the relationship between the private sector. The statement said that the two countries had agreed to “deepen and increase the pace of investment cooperation between the two countries, stimulate partnerships and enable investment opportunities for integration between the private sector in the two countries. The two sides have the importance emphasizes the strengthening of cooperation and development in the industrial and mining sectors to serve their strategic interests, in line with the vision of the two countries’ leaderships aimed at strengthening cooperation between them.
Achieving these great long-term aspirations requires intensive meetings and discussions that discuss technical and procedural issues that typically hinder the growth of joint ventures. The positive thing in this regard is the determination of the two governments to support (convening investment forums to introduce the business sectors from both sides to the available opportunities and to encourage them to form partnerships in various investment fields, and joint work to solve the challenges facing their investors by continuing to hold meetings of the Saudi-Pakistani Business Council).
It is noteworthy in the statement that the two governments care and welcome the need for (the private sector in the two countries entering into investment partnerships in the agricultural and food industries). This aspect needs the attention of the major Saudi investors in agriculture. Pakistan is an international trade route, and it is a corridor for agricultural products in Central Asia. And China is now building roads and trains across Pakistan to connect Central Asia with the port (Gwadar) to the Arabian Sea, facilitating the flow of goods and supporting joint Saudi and Gulf investments.
The two parties also stressed the importance of taking advantage of the leading Pakistani expertise and capabilities in a number of sectors in order to bring mutual benefits to the economies of the two countries. joint media).
This historic step, and to achieve what we are striving for from a relationship and a strategic alliance, requires the need to develop the performance of the Saudi-Pakistani Business Council in particular, the continuation of its sessions, as indicated in the statement , support for the establishment of joint projects, the improvement of the level of direct shipping and aviation lines, the intensification of the exchange of official visits, student exchanges and award studies, the strengthening of cooperation between universities, and the improvement of cooperation in agriculture and food security. With the establishment of joint research centers, the use of Pakistani scientists to develop the renewable energy sector.
This new shift in relationships also provides an opportunity for our investments. With the loss of reliability and security of investment in America and Europe, Pakistan, with its rich resources, is a suitable option to direct increasing proportions of our public and private investment funds to it.
It has yet to be said that the strength of the Saudi-Pakistani strategic partnership extends to its sustainable positive effect on the consolidation of peace and the support of Arab and Islamic national security. The strong quality of Saudi relations with Pakistan was and will be in the interest of developing and developing relations in the Indian Peninsula, and the consolidation of peace in mainland Asia. Saudi Arabia is the world’s trusted mediator to bring all sides closer together.