Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to work towards raising Pakistan’s agricultural and food exports to the kingdom to $3 billion within the next two years (Dawn).
It is a target in a joint statement. It is not a contract, an order book or a purchase commitment.
What was actually agreed
A Saudi delegation led by Abdulrahman Al-Fadley, minister of environment, water and agriculture, visited Islamabad from 26 to 28 August at Pakistan’s invitation, and called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Pakistan’s side was led by food security minister Rana Tanveer Hussain (Geo News/APP).
The Prime Minister’s Office released the joint statement on Sunday, two days after the delegation left. No memorandum of understanding, trade agreement or signed instrument is reported by any of the outlets covering it — Dawn, Geo, The Express Tribune or Arab News. Two ministries stated an intention.
The arithmetic
The statement quantifies exactly two commodity flows. Pakistan supplied Saudi Arabia with about 169,000 tonnes of rice worth $163 million in 2025, and ships roughly 30,000 tonnes of red meat a year worth about $167 million.
Those two flows come to $330 million ($163m + $167m). Measured against them alone, $3 billion is a 9.1-fold increase — which, spread over two years, means multiplying by about 3.0 each year.
That 9.1 is not the multiple on Pakistan’s agricultural trade with Saudi Arabia. It is the multiple on the only two flows the joint statement puts a number to. None of the four outlets above give a figure for Pakistan’s total agricultural and food exports to the kingdom, and the joint statement does not contain one. The real baseline is therefore higher than $330m by an unknown margin, and the real multiple correspondingly smaller than nine.
What is on the list
Rice, red meat, fruits and fruit concentrates, green fodder and water-efficient agricultural technology were named as priority sectors.
Saudi Arabia wants to gradually double its imports of Pakistani red meat and buy more rice, and flagged green fodder as a candidate for long-term supply partnerships. The two sides welcomed completion of the first phase of a water-efficient irrigation programme in Bhakkar, Punjab, and discussed a second phase aimed at smallholders.
Market access
On market access, the statement goes no further than encouraging steps towards mutual recognition of quality certifications. No outlet details what is currently blocked, or which certificates Riyadh does not accept.
Saudi Arabia also invited Pakistan to join the International Dates Council and to attend the 43rd Saudi Agriculture Exhibition in Riyadh from 19 to 22 October. The delegation met the Special Investment Facilitation Council, Fauji Foundation and the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia Agri Business Forum, and visited the National Agricultural Research Centre.
What happens next
The target has no interim milestones, no named buyers and no stated mechanism. October’s Riyadh exhibition is the first scheduled point at which anything can be tested against it.
The trade track sits alongside a separate defence one: the first meeting under the Pakistan-Saudi-Türkiye Makkah Joint Defence Agreement of 7 August is being held in Istanbul today, Tribune reported. No source connects the two tracks.
