Pakistan and Saudi Arabia pledge to promote investment in key sectors

• FinMins appreciate the historical, brotherly ties between 2 countries.
• Both sides agreed to promote cooperation in many fields.
• Aurangzeb to Washington to attend the annual meetings of the PT-IMF.

Appreciating the historic and brotherly ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, both sides expressed determination to further deepen mutually beneficial economic ties, enhance bilateral trade and facilitate investment in key sectors.

The commitment was renewed at a meeting between Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan on the sidelines of the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings in Washington DC.

Aljadaan shared his experience of energy sector reforms. Both sides agreed to promote cooperation in areas of mutual interest, the finance ministry said in a post on X.

Aurangzeb is leading a Pakistani delegation to the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings to be held in Washington from October 21 to 26, state APPLICATION was mentioned.

Other representatives include Finance Minister Imdad Ullah Bosal; Financial Affairs Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad.

It is worth noting here that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had signed several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for bilateral investment deals worth $2 billion during the visit of Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Bin Abdul Aziz Al Falih to Islamabad last month.

The Khalid-led delegation comprised of Saudi companies from various sectors including construction, engineering, financial services, IT, hospitality, agriculture, food, energy and oil are part of the visiting mission.

The agreements included investment of $70 million in the agricultural sector, establishment of advanced semiconductor chip manufacturing in Saudi Arabia, establishment of textile industry, white oil pipeline project, Memorandum of Understanding to explore investment opportunities, hybrid energy project, development of transformer manufacturing facilities in both countries, cyber security measures for customers and businesses and export of spices and vegetables from Pakistan.

In addition, the agreements outline the establishment of a manufacturing facility for surgical and dental equipment and cooperation in the E-Taaleem and digitization programs of the federal government.

Cooperation of Pakistan, Turkey

On the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings, Aurangzeb also held a meeting with Turkey’s Finance and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek.

Recalling the historic, brotherly ties and multi-faceted cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey, the finance minister said there is great potential to enhance the current volume of bilateral trade.

He said Pakistan could learn from Turkey’s experience in energy sector reforms and invited Turkish companies to enter into mutually beneficial joint ventures (JVs) with their Pakistani counterparts.

A US Treasury official was briefed on the tax measures

The Treasury Secretary met with US Treasury Assistant Secretary for International Finance Brent Neumann.

Briefed Neiman on measures to broaden tax base, align provincial AIT [Agriculture Income Tax] regimes with federal personal/corporate income tax rates and rationalization of subsidies.

Aurangzeb also briefed him about the government’s steps to introduce reform in the energy sector, restructuring of state-owned enterprises.

In addition, the current government’s moves to build climate resilience through the effective implementation of the Climate Public Investment Management Action Plan (C-PIMA) and enhanced climate adaptation investments were also discussed.

He thanked the US government for its support in securing the expanded IMF fund facility for Pakistan.