Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Departs After Landmark Visit to Pakistan

LAHORE MIRROR (Monitoring Desk)– After spending two days in Pakistan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman departed on Monday, leaving a successful tale of accounts benefiting mutual relations and Pakistan’s economy in future .

Before his departure, MBS and Prime Minister Imran Khan held a joint news conference.

“I looked at my phone this morning and realized that if you [Mohemmad bin Salman] stood for elections in Pakistan you would get more votes than me,” Prime Minister Khan said on the prince’s statement that he was Pakistan’s ambassador in Saudi Arabia.

The prime minister thanked the Saudi crown prince for announcing the release of Pakistani prisoners in the Kingdom.

“This is the first time Pakistan, Saudi Relations are developing into other spheres,” the prime minister said, adding that the geostrategic importance of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia would be an advantage and the combination of the two countries would work well in the future.

We want you to consider Pakistan your second home. Consider PM House your own house whenever you come to Pakistan.”

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country believed in Pakistan’s future.

“It feels home in Pakistan…. We believe in Pakistan’s future, we believe that Pakistan has huge opportunities. In 2030, Pakistan will be next to two huge economies, China and India,” he said.

“Pakistan will definitely benefit from these neighbours, there’s great leadership to put Pakistan in the right position and we can see that happening, because in 2018, Pakistani economy grew by 5 per cent. So we believe that Pakistan has huge potential and I believe it could be one of the 20 biggest economies in future.”

Prince Mohammed further said: “The leadership, the people of Pakistan and their allies come together, definitely, it can reach that one day. So because of that we believe in Pakistan because of the long relations, because of our brothers in Pakistan, we want to be part of that journey and we want to risk our money, to risk our efforts and start from day one.

“So what we did today is the beginning and we hope in the close future we do more and more partnering with Pakistan in projects between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia,” he added.

During the visit, a high-profile delegation from Saudi Arabia signed seven MoUs and investment agreements with Pakistan, worth over $20 billion, to boost bilateral ties.

The Saudi crown prince was conferred with the country’s highest civil award Nishan-e-Pakistan during a ceremony at the President House on Monday.

Prior to the ceremony at the President House, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman met held one to one meeting Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

“During the meeting they discussed the ongoing cooperation between the two countries in the fields of defence,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry tweeted.