President to visit S Arabia on Nov 4-5

ISLAMABAD - President Asif Ali Zardari will visit Saudi Arabia on November 4-5 to seek oil facility on deferred payment and solicit the Kingdom’s support for the ‘Friends of Pakistan Initiative’.

“President Zardari will hold talks with King Abdullah during the two-day visit to Saudi Arabia during which he will solicit Saudi support for the ‘Friends of Pakistan Initiative’ and the oil-facility requested by Pakistan on deferred payment,” said the Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq while addressing his weekly press briefing here on Friday.

The recently formed ‘Friends of Pakistan group’ includes Pakistan’s major donors like US, UK, China, France, UAE and Germany etc and it would meet in Abu Dhabi on November 17 to discuss matters related to financial assistance for South Asian nuclear state.

Sadiq said the Saudi King and President Zardari would also exchange views on bilateral, regional and international issues as well increase in the volume of bilateral trade and export of manpower to Saudi Arabia.

President Zardari’s visit to Saudi Arabia is taking place at a time when Pakistan, currently facing serious economic crisis, is about to reach a deal with International Monetary Fund (IMF).

What Pakistan is seeking from the IMF and friendly states like Saudi Arabia is billions of dollars in loans and assistance to deal with the balance of payments crisis that has driven the country to the verge of default and financial collapse.

Sadiq said that Pakistan’s bilateral trade with Saudi Arabia stood at around $ 5.7 billion and over a million-strong Pakistani community was living in the kingdom.

He said, “Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy a special relationship.

He said the two countries had shared perceptions and convergence of views on major regional and international issues. Frequent exchange of high level visits was a hallmark of those fraternal relations, he added.

In response to a question, he said the US drone attacks were causing rage among people living in the tribal areas and also undermining Pakistan’s efforts to seek broader support for the efforts against terrorism.

He said, “We condemn these attacks. These are most unfortunate and constitute a gross violation of our sovereignty and territory,” he said.