ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has formed a high-level committee to lead economic negotiations with Saudi Arabia, according to an official notification issued by the prime minister’s office.
The committee, established by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, will supervise discussions aimed at expanding cooperation beyond defence and energy to include environmental protection and climate stability.
It is widely believed that Islamabad and Riyadh will sign a wide-ranging economic pact as early as this month, weeks after they inked a mutual defence pact, significantly strengthening a decades-old security partnership, according to Arab News.
Pakistan’s partnership with Saudi Arabia is rooted in shared faith, strategic interests, and economic interdependence. Nearly 2.6 million Pakistanis live and work in Saudi Arabia and are also the largest source of remittances to the South Asian nation.
In recent months, Pakistan has intensified efforts to bolster trade and investment relations with friendly countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, which has pledged a crucial $5 billion investment package.
According to a notification from the Prime Minister’s Office, a new committee has been formed to facilitate this initiative. It will be co-chaired by Minister for Climate Change Musadik Masood Malik and Lt Gen Sarfraz Ahmad, who serves as the National Coordinator of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC)—a civil-military body tasked with overseeing foreign investment in the country.
“The Co-Chairs shall constitute Core/Negotiation Teams for negotiations with the Saudi counterparts. These teams shall be responsible for implementing and executing the assigned tasks on a fast-track basis,” the notification said.
The committee has been directed to submit progress reports to the Prime Minister every two weeks, with administrative support provided by the SIFC Secretariat.
Its members include Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Minister for Power Awais Leghari, Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain, Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja, and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan, among others.
Trade between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia remains significantly imbalanced. In recent years, Saudi exports to Pakistan have far exceeded Pakistan’s exports to the Kingdom. In 2023, Saudi Arabia exported goods worth approximately $4.65 billion to Pakistan, while Pakistan’s exports to Saudi Arabia were comparatively limited—around $138 million in rice and other products.
By 2024, Pakistan’s total exports to Saudi Arabia had increased to approximately $734 million, with key items including cereals and meat. In contrast, Saudi exports to Pakistan largely consisted of refined petroleum and chemical products.
During a visit by a Saudi investment delegation in October last year, business communities from both countries signed 34 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) valued at around $2.8 billion. However, it remains unclear how many of those MoUs have since materialized into active projects or contracts.
