Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia arrived in Pakistan on Sunday, Feb. 17, for a two-day state visit. He was greeted with so much fanfare complete with the 21-gun salute at the Nur Khan airbase.
Al Jazeera reported that some analysts described the prince's visit as very grand and said that Pakistan is treating Prince Mohammed's trip as the biggest state visit since Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015. Needless to say, he was also greeted by Prime Minister Imran Khan and reportedly personally drove the prince to the official PM's residence where they were met by honor guards.
Prince Mohammed who is also known as MBS will be the very first guest to stay at the PM's residence because Khan never lives in the house like he was supposed to. The Pakistani prime minister wants to save the taxpayer's money so he refused to stay there since being elected last year.
At any rate, as soon as Crown Prince Mohammed arrived in Pakistan with his delegation that includes Saudi's members of the cabinet and top businessmen, he signed a $20 billion investment agreement to help boost Pakistan's dwindling economy. This deal came not long after China also revealed its plans to invest billions on infrastructure as part of China's global Belt and Road initiative.
In a joint press conference with the prince, Prime Minister Khan was asked about the importance of the visit and he said that with the close and longstanding relationship between Saudi and Pakistan, the prince's state visit will further strengthen the diplomatic ties of the two countries. He added that he is confident that this will fortify bilateral economic and political relations through joint ventures and creating new avenues of investment.
On the other hand, Prince Mohammed said that his visit is "A relationship where it will now be an investment between the two countries that will mutually benefit from it."
And commenting about their decision to invest $20 billion in Pakistan, the prince said, "It's going to grow every month, every year. We believe Pakistan is going to be a very important country in the coming future and we want to be sure we are a part of that."
Based on the reports, the blueprint for multi-million dollar deal includes an oil refinery and construction of a petrochemical complex in Gwadar, procurement of two liquefied natural gas-powered power plants and alternative energy and mining deals. The agreement is also expected to fund tourism, agriculture, food processing and many other sectors that will help bolster Pakistan's economy.
Finally, Prime Minster Kahn expressed his sincere gratitude to Crown Prince Mohammed for Saudi's continuous support to his country.
"I want to thank you for the way you helped us when we were in a bad situation," Pakistan Today quoted Khan as saying to Saudi's prince. "Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were now taking their relationship to a new level, where investment agreements would be mutually beneficial for the countries."
