Saudi plans significant investments to help shore up crisis-hit Pakistan’s finances, says bin Farhan

Saudi is planning significant investments in Pakistan, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said during a joint press conference with Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar (watch, runtime: 26:52). He said his delegation was briefed on potential investments in various sectors in Pakistan, stressing “very, very significant confidence” to move forward with the projects. “There is a lot of untapped potential [in Pakistan] that is clear to everyone and just needs to be tapped and here working together we will do what we can with our colleagues in the government of Pakistan to make that happen,” he said. He did not provide further details, but Dar said some of the areas of interest included agriculture, IT, mining, energy and other sectors.

Gaza crisis + recent regional escalations: The FM described the international community’s efforts towards the ceasefire in Gaza as “wholly insufficient … We are now well beyond 33k civilians killed. We are now actively discussing the potential of famine in Gaza…This is an unacceptable situation, it is a complete failure of the international system…,” he said. Bin Farhan said that “we do not need more conflict in the region” in an indirect mention of rising tensions between Iran and Israel. “We are already in an unstable region. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is already inflaming the region. We do not need more conflict in our region, we do not need more confrontation in our region. So it is our position that de-escalation must be everybody’s priority,” he said.

Background: The two-day visit by the FM comes nearly a week after Pakistan’s prime minister discussed a USD 5 bn investment package during a meeting in Makkah with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi has been among key backers of crisis-hit Pakistan, which is now struggling with depleted reserves. The Kingdom has extended the term of a USD 3 bn in deposit at the State Bank of Pakistan for an additional year, maturing in December this year. Pakistan also received last year USD 2 bn in financial assistance from the Kingdom to shore up finances.