‘Saudi Vision 2030 offers number of economic opportunities to Pakistan’

Islamabad : Ali Awad Alasiri, former Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan, has said that Saudi Vision 2030 offers a number of economic opportunities to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to further flourish their relations.

Mr Alasiri was speaking at a webinar on ‘Saudi Vision 2030: opportunities for Pakistan’ organised here by Institute of Strategic Studies (ISS).

Mr Alasiri said that there are a number of economic opportunities which are emerging for Pakistan. “Case in point being how Pakistan can send its technicians to provide support in the mega project—NEOM city. Moreover, both can sign a number of agreements in areas like agriculture, health, labour etc.,” he added He suggested that the chambers of commerce in Pakistan must be more proactive to market the products of Pakistan in Saudi Arabia and at the same time both nations should lower trade barriers for each other as well as improve communication.

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the OIC, Rizwan Saeed said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia already have a concrete base in their relations which stems from strong historical, political, economic and security reasons and should pay more attention to the problems in public and private sectors on both sides and try to identify the fault lines which impede the economic activity between the two states.

PPP Senator Sehar Kamran said that Saudi Vision 2030 aims at reducing dependency of the Kingdom on oil and diversify its economy by building the future of Saudi Arabia around three themes: a vibrant society, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation.

Dr Muhammad Azam Roomi from MBS College of Business & Entrepreneurship, King Abdullah Economic City, said that his college itself is a tool to achieve the objective of Saudi Vision 2030 which offers a number of opportunities to Pakistan to exploit.

Earlier, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Director-General ISS, in his welcome remarks said that the whole region is buzzing with the theme of geo-economics and Saudi Vision 2030 is presenting a new face of the Kingdom where the focus is on economic development.