Shehbaz Sharif calls debt trap ‘a death trap’  Says Pakistan’s revenue sector is in tatters, power sector in a shambles  Thanks Saudi Arabia, USA, UK, Gulf courtiers for helping Pakistan in testing times  Invites Malaysian businessmen to visit Pakistan  Claims Pak-Saudi economic ties entered new era.

RIYADH  -   Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Arab’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud met here Monday and agreed to strengthen broad-based cooperation in various fields.

In a meeting held in Riyadh, the two sides expressed satisfaction over the progress with regard to the decisions taken during their earlier meeting in Makkah.

PM Sharif thanked the Saudi Crown Prince for recently sending a high-level delegation to Pakistan under the leadership of the Saudi Foreign Minister. 

He appreciated the interest shown by the Crown Prince in sending more delegations to Pakistan to boost investment in diverse fields. The prime minister expressed gratitude to the Crown Prince for the excellent hospitality extended to him during his visit to Saudi Arabia and for the comprehensive programme with regard to the Saudi investment in Pakistan.

PM Sharif reiterated his invitation to the Saudi Crown Prince to visit Pakistan. The situation in Gaza also came under discussion during the meeting. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Monday said permanent peace in Gaza is imperative for peace in the world.

He was speaking at the plenary meeting of the special session of World Economic Forum on the theme of “Rejuvenating Growth”. He said, “The world will not be in peace unless there is a permanent peace in Gaza.”

As he talked about Gaza, the audience in the hall responded with resounding applause. He said the conflict in Ukraine brought to the world skyrocketing commodity prices, and Pakistan could not import and procure vital raw materials for industry and agriculture. “On top of that inflation is breaking the back of developing countries,” he said. Coupled with that, Pakistan faced devastation in 2022 due to huge unimaginable floods. The prime minister said, “Pakistan is one of those countries which have nothing to do with the reasons leading to climate change. Our contribution to emissions is not even fraction of one percent.” Due to the catastrophic floods in Paki­stan, large swathes of land were submerged, millions of houses and animals were washed away, and stagnant water brought wa­ter borne diseases all across the country, he continued. He said his government spent Rs 100 bil­lion from scarce resources for re­lief and rehabilitation of the flood affectees. “We are grateful to the friendly countries including Saudi Arabia, Gulf countries, the United Kingdom, the United States and many other countries for their support at a difficult time.”

Pakistan’s economy suffered losses of 30 billion dollars be­cause of the floods and then it approached international enti­ties in Geneva and other places and had to borrow loans at ex­pensive rates due to the natural disaster which was not its fault, he mentioned. “Our country was hit in a way which I had not seen in my life time,” he remarked.

He gave the example of his family to express his determi­nation and resolve to put Paki­stan on the road to progress and prosperity. He said his father and his brothers were sons of a poor farmer in undivided India and they migrated to Lahore, Pa­kistan at the time of partition.

With the sheer dint of hard work, in 1965 his father and fam­ily raised the largest steel en­gineering company in Pakistan but it was nationalized on Janu­ary 2, 1972, he said, adding his family stood up and accepted the challenge and in next 18 months set up six new small factories to avoid further nationalization.

He said global north and south were dependent on each oth­er and had to work together to face the present challenges. The prime minister said after tak­ing over reins of the country ear­ly this year, he was determined to put things in order. Talking about the issues facing Pakistan, he said the power sector was in a shambles due to massive elec­tricity theft and an elitist culture was doling out to those who did not deserve it. He told that for the first time in the country’s history after getting credible input from agencies he removed high level officers who were not function­ing well and had grey records.

“Our revenue sector is in tat­ters and what we receive annual­ly in revenue, we lose four times due to leakages in the system. Unless we plug loopholes we will not recover from our problems in revenue collection,” he ex­plained. He said there were also problems of inflation and debt trap which was a “death trap”.

He said, “I acknowledge from the core of my heart the sup­port of Saudi leadership for Pa­kistan for overcoming econom­ic challenges. A friend in need is a friend indeed.” He appreciat­ed the UK’s Department for In­ternational Development for its outstanding support for Paki­stan in sectors of health and ed­ucation in the past. He said his government was going for deep rooted structural reforms and meaningful austerity. Pakistan had a very young population - millions of boys and girls - which was not only a challenge but also a great opportunity, he added.

“Youth is our biggest asset and we have to provide them will modern tools and technology in­cluding education in information technology and artificial intelli­gence and vocational training so that they can become self earners and establish small and medium size businesses and contribute in the nation building efforts in Pa­kistan and Saudi Arabia.” Talking about his goals to achieve eco­nomic progress, he said his gov­ernment would promote agricul­ture through modern technology and by providing the best seeds and fertilizers to farmers. “A huge task is ahead of us and we have to go for higher exports and in­centivize our exporters and uti­lize our mineral resources and fertile land,” he added. He reiter­ated that Pakistan could achieve its rightful place in the comity of nations with hard work and un­tiring efforts.

Also, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appreciated the keen interest shown by Saudi Ara­bia in exploring ways and means to increase economic partner­ship between the two brotherly countries. He expressed these re­marks during his meetings with the Ministers of Energy, Econo­my, and Planning, and Environ­ment, Water, and Agriculture of Saudi Arabia on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Spe­cial Meeting in Riyadh. During the meeting with Saudi Ener­gy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, the Prime Minis­ter highlighted the initiatives un­dertaken by the government of Pakistan to facilitate and stream­line processes for investments in the energy sector of Pakistan.

He underscored various ave­nues available for energy cooper­ation between the two brotherly countries, which included build­ing new and improving existing energy infrastructure, increasing focus on renewable energy, and bringing efficiencies across the entire energy ecosystem.

The Energy Minister of the Kingdom acknowledged the deep historic fraternal ties be­tween the two countries and highlighted the important role played by Pakistanis in the de­velopment of the Kingdom. The Saudi side showed keen interest in developing energy projects identified by the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister welcomed the interest shown by the King­dom to enhance economic part­nership with Pakistan.

He said that following his meet­ing with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, both sides are pursuing the eco­nomic cooperation agenda with renewed vigor and commitment. He expressed hope that the tech­nical teams of the two countries would complete their work and many mutually beneficial proj­ects would be launched soon. The Prime Minister also applauded the vision of the Kingdom and the remarkable transformation that has taken place, making Saudi Arabia a hub of economic growth and development. Later, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif held meetings with Min­ister of Economy and Planning Faisal Al-Ibrahim and Minister of Environment, Water, and Agricul­ture of the Kingdom of Saudi Ara­bia Abdulrahman Abdulmohsen Al-Fadley. He highlighted the po­tential of the Pakistani agricul­ture sector and underscored that Pakistan can become a breadbas­ket for the Kingdom and could play a critical role in ensuring food security not only for the two countries but for the entire re­gion. The Saudi Minister for En­vironment, Water, and Agricul­ture briefed the Prime Minister on the fruitful discussions that he and his delegation held in Islam­abad. He said that the Saudi agri­culture companies are looking at Pakistan with great interest and hoped that both countries would benefit from joint ventures for improving the value chain of the agriculture economy. He under­scored that the Kingdom values Pakistan’s strategic and compet­itive advantages in the field of ag­riculture and considers the Pa­kistani agricultural sector as a significant area of cooperation.