Saudi Arabia ready to invest 12 billion dollars in Pakistan

Shehbaz-Saudi-Salman

Saudi Arabia ready to invest 12 billion dollars in Pakistan

PM Sbehbaz Sharif is leaving for Saudi Arabia

ISLAMABAD, 24,2022- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has convinced Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman to invest 12 billion dollars in Pakistan.

The Saudi delegation led by Prince Mohammed will visit Pakistan in the last week of next month for the establishment of a modern refinery and petrochemical complex.

According to government sources, Shehbaz Sharif along with a high level delegation is leaving for Saudi Arabia on a two-day visit today.

It should be noted that Prince Muhammad was angry over former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sale of a watch gifted by the Saudi Crown Prince and other issues, due to which this project was also delayed.

What Shehbaz Sharif got from Saudi Arabia?

The government is also working on setting up a refinery under PARCO at a cost of 5 to 6 billion dollars.

The government of Pakistan has finally managed to convince Saudi Arabia to set up a refinery and petrochemical complex in Pakistan at a cost of 12 billion dollars.

The Petroleum Division has started work on a draft to upgrade the refining policy, in which the profits will be increased by 14 to 15 percent, besides giving more incentives to investors in terms of taxes.

The investment will be for setting up new refineries. This project was shelved during the regime of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

According to a senior official of the Ministry of Energy, the Saudi delegation led by Prince Muhammad will visit Pakistan in the last week of November this year at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The prime minister worked very actively to persuade Saudi Arabia to sign memorandums of understanding and invest in Pakistan.

Interestingly, in February 2019, Pakistan signed memorandums of understanding worth 21 billion dollars with Saudi Arabia for investment in various sectors of the economy.

These agreements were made on the occasion of Prince Muhammad’s last visit to Pakistan. At that time, the Prime Minister of Pakistan was Imran Khan.

Saudi Aramco had also prepared a feasibility study according to which the establishment of a refinery in Gwadar would not be beneficial, but this refinery could be built in Hub Baluchistan near Karachi.

Despite the Saudi-led OIC, when Imran Khan tried to establish an Islamic bloc, which was being set up with efforts of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan And when Malaysia’s then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Saudi Arabia withdrew its investment and distance from Pakistan.

Then it also happened that Prince Muhammad bin Salman gifted a very valuable watch to Imran Khan, which he sold to a shop in the United Arab Emirates. The above mentioned wristwatch was specially manufactured on the order of the Saudi Crown Prince.

The owner of the shop provided this watch to Prince Mohammed, who expressed his displeasure.

Furthermore, Imran Khan used the private plane of the Saudi Crown Prince to go to the United Nations through Saudi Arabia, but in the meetings with some of the dignitaries in the United Nations, he spoke ill of Saudi Arabia, on which the Saudi authorities recalled the plane and Imran Khan was sent back to his office. Had to come to Pakistan.

Officials said that after these events, Saudi Arabia put behind 21 billion dollars’ worth MoUs.

The Shehbaz Sharif government is also seeking Chinese investment for a refinery in the country.