LAHORE: SAARC CCI Senior Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik Friday terming Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman visit to Pakistan a “milestone” in the history of Pak-Saudi relations said it would open new vistas of opportunities to further cement bilateral relationship, especially in economic sector and enhance the existing trade volume between both the Muslim brothers’ countries.
In his press statement issued here today, Iftikhar Malik said Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman is a great leader of Islamic world and his economic reforms inside Saudi Arabia brought positive impact. He said the good sign is that Pakistan under dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan is also introducing economic structural reforms to revive the economy of the country.
He said Pak-Saudi relations are historical and based on mutual interest and trust and the Saudi government always extended helping hands towards Pakistan at the time of crisis whether it was a grant of US$10 million during the 2005 earthquake, $170 million during the 2010/11 floods, and a $1.5 billion grant when Pakistan faced an economic crisis in 2014.
He further said the good thing is that Saudi Arabia is not giving loan but injecting investment around $2 billion to $3 billion in order to stabilize its foreign reserves position, currency and external balance sheet and $ about 9 billion into different projects. He added that it would be in benefit of Pakistan if Saudi Arabia agreed to supply oil at concessionary rates which would mitigate pressure on the import bill to a large extent during the Crown Prince visit. “During the last fiscal year, 2017-18, the country’s imports of petroleum stood at $13.27 billion, imported from different countries, including Saudi Arabia. “If Pakistan gets the oil at a deferred payment or at relaxed conditions the issue of the country’s cash will be resolved,” he added.
Iftikhar Malik suggested to explore avenues for exports to Saudi Arabia by ending tariff and non-tariff barriers that have decreased the trade of goods and services. “Despite holding great potential, bilateral trade between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is only $3.4 billion and largely in favor of Saudi Arabia. Pakistan imported $3.1 billion worth of goods from the Kingdom during the fiscal year 2017-18, while exports stood at $316.7 million, data shared by the State Bank of Pakistan showed,” he pointed out.
He said at this juncture, we are able to build on the historic relationship by encouraging investors on both sides to make use of the business and cooperation opportunities. He also proposed having a dialogue with the business community in both the countries and make room for having more agreements to launch new initiatives.
He said Pakistan should try to win Saudi contracts for IT services to earn foreign exchange and explore new potential in agriculture to seek Saudi investment through joint ventures. “This area has potential to grow fast and create export surplus. Saudis investors can be lured for modern corporate farming in Pakistan to earn substantial profits,” he added.
Iftikhar Malik said Saudi Arabia investment in the mega-project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will be beneficial for both the countries. He said it would connect those parts of the world which had been no or less connectivity. “The economic corridor will not only provide China with cheaper access to Africa and the Middle East but will also earn Pakistan billions of dollars for providing transit facilities to the world’s second-largest economy,” he concluded.
