Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed the relevant authorities to formulate recommendations for further strengthening fraternal ties between Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Chairing a preparatory meeting with regard to his upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, Shehbaz directed the authorities concerned to prepare recommendations for the promotion of relations, especially in areas of employment, energy, food security and long-term strategic partnership.
During the meeting, he said that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were tied together in an everlasting bond of Muslim brotherhood. He said that Pakistanis accorded high esteem to the durable relationship. It may be mentioned here that it will be Shehbaz’s first visit to a foreign country after becoming the premier.
The visit will prove to be a milestone in further enhancing strategic ties between the two brotherly countries.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Sajid Hussain Turi, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, PM’s Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi, PML-N MNA Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and other senior officials.
Meanwhile, Marriyum Aurangzeb took to Twitter and said that contrary to the lies being propagated by the PTI leaders, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would travel to Saudi Arabia this week on a commercial flight at his own expense. Tagging a screenshot of a news alert on a private news channel, which claimed that Pakistan International Airlines had been asked to keep a Boeing 777 on standby for the PM’s visit, the minister said the news item was fake. She recalled that during his 10 years as the Punjab chief minister (from 2008 to 2018), Shehbaz had always travelled commercially and at his own expense.
Separately, Hina Rabbani Khar said Pakistan was determined to further strengthen the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China. Talking to Charge d’ Affairs of China Pang Chunxue, the minister of state appreciated the sincere support of China for the progress and development of Pakistan.
