ISLAMABAD: Saudi Minister for Investment Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih said on Wednesday $2.2 billion in agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) signed between Saudi and Pakistani businesses earlier this month had been enhanced to $2.8 billion.
The business-to-business collaborations were signed on Oct. 10 during Al-Falih’s visit to Islamabad with a delegation of top investors and entrepreneurs from the Kingdom.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is currently on a two-day visit to Riyadh where he attended the Future Investment Initiative (FII) forum on Tuesday and also held a bilateral meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who earlier this year reaffirmed the Kingdom’s commitment to expedite a $5 billion investment package for Pakistan.
“When we came to Pakistan, we concluded in three days 27 MoUs valued at $2.2 billion,” Al-Falih said in a televised press talk with Sharif.
“And I mentioned during that time at various events that this was only the beginning. To prove that, here we are two or three weeks later, and I would like that that number has increased from 27 MoUs and agreements to 34 MoUs.
“So, we have been able to add another seven, almost two per week. And I think more importantly, the value of those agreements has also increased to $2.8 billion.”
The Saudi minister said five agreements signed during his trip to Pakistan were already operational and had resulted in exports from the South Asian state to the Kingdom. Al-Falih said Saudi Arabia would also absorb a greater and more qualified Pakistani workforce, especially in the health sector, in the foreseeable future.
“Remittances back to Pakistan will be on the rise,” the official said. “The first results will be seen in the next few weeks.”
Al-Falih said Saudi Arabia would also seek help from Pakistani technology firms to transform the way digital artificial intelligence was used for business and the economy.
Sharif thanked the Saudi government, especially Crown Prince Mohammed, for helping Pakistan secure a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program last month by helping Islamabad meet its external financing needs.
The PM added that he planned to return to Saudi Arabia next month for more discussions on bilateral engagements.
“Together we are marching forward, together we are strengthening our brotherly relations,” he said.
The Pakistani PM’s visit takes place at a time when Islamabad is seeking to strengthen trade and investment ties with friendly nations, particularly the Kingdom, which has promised a $5 billion investment package that cash-strapped Pakistan desperately needs to shore up its dwindling foreign reserves and fight a chronic balance of payment crisis.
Saudi minister announces $2.2 billion investment deals with Pakistan enhanced to $2.8 billion
https://arab.news/yp7es
Saudi minister announces $2.2 billion investment deals with Pakistan enhanced to $2.8 billion
- The deals between Saudi and Pakistani companies were signed during Saudi investment minister’s visit to Islamabad earlier this month
- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this year reaffirmed his commitment to expedite $5 billion investment package for Pakistan
Pakistan reports 43rd polio case this year amid alarming surge in infection
- Latest poliovirus case reported from the southwestern Chagai district in Balochistan
- Pakistan launched nationwide campaign this week to vaccinate over 45 million children
PESHAWAR: Pakistan reported its 43rd poliovirus case of the year on Wednesday with the latest infection reported from the southwestern Balochistan province, the country’s national polio program confirmed, as Islamabad struggles to contain an alarming surge of the disease.
The latest case was reported from the southwestern Chagai district in Balochistan, where a child contracted the disease.
This makes it the first poliovirus case reported from the Chagai district this year and Balochistan’s 23rd. The development takes place as Pakistan launched a nationwide campaign on Monday to vaccinate over 45 million children against polio.
“On Wednesday, 30 October 2024, the lab confirmed detection of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus in a child from Chagai District of Balochistan,” Pakistan’s polio eradication program said in a statement.
Giving a breakdown of the cases, the program said Pakistan has reported 23 polio cases from Balochistan, 12 from the southern Sindh province, six from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one each from Punjab and Islamabad this year.
Polio has caused a headache for Islamabad as Pakistan remains one of only two countries worldwide where the disease is endemic.
Its efforts to eliminate the disease have been hit hard by frequent militant attacks targeting vaccination teams. Religiously motivated militants, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, accuse polio vaccination teams of using inoculation campaigns to sterilize Pakistani children based on a Western conspiracy.
The masses’ doubts regarding polio campaigns were exacerbated in 2011 when the US Central Intelligence Agency set up a fake vaccination program to gather intelligence on former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Two police officers were killed and three militants gunned down in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday after armed men attacked a polio vaccination team during an inoculation drive.
This followed a September attack in which two people were killed when gunmen attacked a polio vaccination team in the northwestern Bajaur tribal district.
Bosnia arrests 8 for trafficking illegal migrants from Pakistan, India, among other nations
- Human ring smuggled at least 1,400 migrants to Italy, authorities say
- Bosnia lies along “Balkan route” migrants regularly use to reach Europe
SARAJEVO: Bosnian police arrested eight people suspected of being part of a human trafficking ring that smuggled at least 1,400 illegal migrants to Italy, authorities said on Wednesday.
“Members of the criminal group organized the trafficking of at least 1,400 illegal migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Eritrea and China,” Dragana Kerkez, a spokeswoman for the interior ministry in Bosnia’s Serb-run statelet, told AFP.
The eight suspects were arrested in several towns across northern Bosnia during an operation carried out in cooperation with Europol and Croatian, Slovenian and Italian police.
During the raids, police also seized weapons, over 100,000 marks ($55,000) and used cars and boats, the spokeswoman said, adding that the group was also suspected of trafficking drugs.
The group used the Sky ECC encrypted communications network system, which was cracked in 2019 by a team of Belgian, Dutch and French investigators.
That gave authorities unprecedented access to the information on the practices of some of the most dangerous criminal groups, including ones in the Balkans.
Bosnia lies along the so-called “Balkan route” that migrants regularly use to reach the European Union.
According to Kerkez, the group trafficked migrants by first taking them to neighboring Croatia.
From there, they were transported in cars and trucks to Italy, she added.
Bosnian and Croatian authorities regularly arrest human traffickers in an ongoing crackdown hoping to stem the surge of migrants heading to the EU.
During the first nine months of the year, 1,430 migrant smugglers were arrested in Croatia, according to official figures — marking a nearly 40-percent increase compared with the same period last year.
In August, 12 migrants died when their boat capsized as they tried to cross a river between Bosnia and Serbia.
Pakistan expresses solidarity with Spain as torrential rains, floods kill 62
- Heavy storms in Spain’s southern and eastern regions since Tuesday have triggered flash floods
- Spain has deployed over 1,000 soldiers in affected areas to coordinate rescue efforts for citizens
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday expressed solidarity with Spain as flash floods triggered by torrential rains killed at least 62 people in the country, local authorities said.
Heavy rains triggered floods in southern and eastern Spain on Tuesday, with footage on social media showing cars being swept away by raging waters.
Over 1,000 soldiers from Spain’s emergency response units have been deployed in affected areas to coordinate rescue efforts, Spanish media reports said.
“On behalf of the people and government of Pakistan, I extend our deepest sympathies and solidarity to the people of Spain and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez following the tragic floods and loss of life,” Sharif wrote on social media platform X.
“Pakistan stands in solidarity with friendly people of Spain at this challenging time.”
Spain’s Valencia has been the hardest-hit province in the country. Emergency services in the province urged citizens to avoid any road travel and to follow further updates from official sources.
As the crisis looms, Sánchez said the government would not abandon those affected by the floods.
“All of Spain weeps with all of you,” he said during a televised address. “Our absolute priority is to help you… We won’t abandon you.”
Pakistan is ranked consistently as one of the world’s worst affected countries due to climate change effects. Heavy monsoon rains in 2022 killed over 1,700 people and caused damages over $30 billion to the South Asian country.
Pakistan vows action against suspects that ‘attacked’ ex-chief justice’s car in London
- Video clips show ex-PM Khan supporters in London chasing after and hitting the car of Qazi Faez Isa
- Interior minister directs Pakistan’s database registration authority to identify suspects, vows to cancel passports
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday vowed the government would identify expatriates who had “attacked” former chief justice Qazi Faez Isa’s car in London, threatening to register cases against them and cancel their Pakistani passports and identity cards.
Isa, who retired as Pakistan’s top judge last week after what is widely considered to be a controversial stint in office, arrived in London on Tuesday night to attend an event at Middle Temple, one of the four Inns of Court entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers.
Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had organized a protest outside the event venue ahead of the former judge’s arrival. The PTI accuses Isa of being aligned with the coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, alleging that it had tried to provide an extension in office to him through a controversial constitutional amendment that was passed earlier this month. The government rejects these allegations.
Video footage widely circulated online on Tuesday evening showed angry Khan supporters running after Isa’s car in London, with a few of them hitting the vehicle with their hands before it sped away.
Pakistan’s high commissioner to the UK, Dr. Mohammad Faisal, condemned the attack.
“It is condemnable, we will take action,” he told reporters in London.
State-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi had “strongly condemned” the attack on Isa, who was traveling in a Pakistani High Commission vehicle in London.
Naqvi urged Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to identify the suspects through available footage and vowed that cases would be registered against them in Pakistan.
“Naqvi stated that the attackers’ ID cards and passports will be blocked,” APP said. “Immediate action would be taken to revoke their citizenship.”
Naqvi said the ministry would seek the federal cabinet’s approval in revoking the alleged attackers’ citizenships.
“He also questioned why security was not provided to Qazi Faez Isa despite the fact that he was receiving threats,” APP said.
It was under Isa’s tenure as chief justice that Pakistan’s top court denied Khan’s PTI its iconic bat symbol ahead of Feb. 8 general elections, saying the party had failed to hold intra-party elections. The verdict meant all PTI candidates had to contest elections as independents, which angered Khan supporters, who accused Isa of being biased in favor of the Sharif government.
Khan, arguably Pakistan’s most popular, was ousted from office after a parliamentary no-trust vote in April 2022 and has since waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the country’s powerful military, government and what his party considers pro-establishment judges.
Khan has been in prison since August 2023 after being convicted on several charges ranging from corruption to treason that he says are politically motivated.
Islamabad, Baku seek deeper military ties during Azerbaijan visit by top Pakistani general
- General Shamshad Mirza meets Azerbaijan president to discuss regional security dynamics
- Pakistan has always been vocal in its support for Azerbaijan in its conflict against rival Armenia
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s General Sahir Shamshad Mirza on Wednesday discussed enhancing defense ties and the evolving regional dynamics as he met Azerbaijan’s president and its senior civil and military leadership during his visit to the country, the army’s media wing said.
Pakistan and Azerbaijan have been enjoying cordial diplomatic ties since 1992, with the two countries having a shared history of cooperation, particularly in the areas of trade, defense, and energy.
In July, both governments signed 15 agreements in various fields including transit trade, mineral resources and tourism during Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev’s two-day visit to the South Asian country.
“During the interaction, both sides appreciated deep and historic relations between the two countries and discussed matters of mutual interest including evolving security dynamics of the region and enhancement of existing defense ties in multiple domains,” the army’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
Mirza met Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister Col. General Hasanov Zakir Asgar, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Aziz Oghlu Bayramov, Deputy Defense Minister and Chief of General Staff Col. General Karim Tofig Oghlu Valiyev and the Defense Industry Minister Vugar Mustafayev, the ISPR added.
Highlighting the importance of military cooperation between both countries, he reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment toward peace and stability, the army’s media wing said.
Azerbaijan’s leadership appreciated the sacrifices rendered by Pakistan’s armed forces and their professionalism, the ISPR said.
Pakistan and Azerbaijan have a history of military and defense cooperation. In 2021, Pakistan participated in an eight-day joint military drill with Azerbaijan and Turkiye as part of their tripartite military cooperation agreement.
Pakistan was also among two countries that provided support to Azerbaijan during the 44-day-long Second Karabakh War from September to November 2020, in which Azerbaijan fought against Armenian armed forces until the conclusion of a Russia-brokered truce.
