Prime Minister in Jeddah to hold talks with Saudi leadership
The Prime Minister is in Jeddah to hold talks with Saudi leadership to give new boost to bilateral ties.
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has arrived Jeddah on a two day visit to Saudi Arabia. Senior Saudi officials received him at King Abdul Aziz airport.
The Prime Minister will hold wide ranging talks with Saudi King‚ Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince focusing on enhancing bilateral cooperation between the two countries. He will also discuss regional situation with the Saudi leaders‚ particularly Afghan situation besides updating them on Pak-India dialogue process.
He will perform Umrah tonight and tomorrow he will visit Madina Munawarrah to pay respects at the Roza-e-Rasool (PBUH).
Ambassador Muhammad Naeem Khan‚ giving details to media of the PM’s visit‚ said that the first ever foreign visit of the Prime Minister to Saudi Arabia indicated strong bonds of brotherly and friendly relations between the two countries.
He saidPakistanhad very strong strategic ties withSaudi Arabiaand both the countries had similarities of views on regional and international issues. There is a strong presence of over one point five million Pakistani workers in Saudi Arabia‚ who have been contributing to the foreign exchange reserves of the country.
The Ambassador said last year the remittances from Pakistanis living in Saudi Arabia to Pakistan were two point seven billion dollars‚ which would cross the three billion dollars mark this year.
He said that the community needed more facilities of machine readable passports inSaudi Arabia as the existing ones are not sufficient to meet the requirement of growing number of Pakistanis.