PHOTO: PID
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday dispelled the impression that Saudi Arabia has handed Islamabad any ‘wish list’ during his recent daylong visit to the oil-rich kingdom, where he met top Saudi leadership to discuss the ongoing armed insurrection in Yemen.
“There was nothing of this sort,” said Premier Nawaz while talking to journalists in London, where he arrived on the invitation of British Prime Minister David Cameron to attend the National Commemoration of the Centenary of Gallipoli Campaign.
Premier Nawaz said during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia, he had had constructive engagements with the Saudi leadership and hoped that the Yemen crisis would be resolved politically. “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have close and brotherly relations and Pakistan wants to further strengthen these relations,” he added. “The two [countries] have always stood with each other in difficult times”.
“During the recent visit, the Saudi leadership has been assured that if the territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia is threatened, Pakistan will stand shoulder to shoulder with the kingdom,” he said. He went on to add that a resolution passed by a joint sitting of parliament also carried the same message, but some misunderstandings were created about it.
Asked about the recent visit of the Chinese president, the prime minister said Xi Jinping’s trip was ‘very productive’ and the $46 billion Chinese investment under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was unprecedented. “Such a huge investment that has been achieved with a single visit of the Chinese president was not brought to the country during the last decades,” he added.
Nawaz claimed that the country’s economy is turning around “with inflation at 13-year low, improved GDP growth and high forex reserves”.
“In this improved economic conditions, foreign companies and entrepreneurs should come forward and invest in Pakistan as the country will soon get rid of the electricity and gas crises,” he said. He said investors should start planning their future projects for Pakistan that could take a couple of years and in the meanwhile the country would get rid of gas and power crises.
Speaking about development projects, he said gas pipelines would be laid from Karachi to Gwadar and Nawabshah while a power project was being initiated at Port Qasim. “Gwadar will be made an international city with the construction of an international airport,” he added.
During his visit, the prime minister will hold official talks on bilateral, regional and global issues with his British counterpart. He is also expected to meet British leaders and business executives.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 25th, 2015.
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