——— Saudi FM-led high-level delegation lands in Islamabad on two-day visit
——— FM receives Saudi counterpart at airport
——— Saudi FM to meet President, PM, COAS, others
——— Visit comes following PM’s recent meeting with MBS
By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: As Islamabad eyeing a huge investment from Riyadh, a high-level delegation of Saudi Arabia led by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah has arrived in the federal capital on a two-day official visit today (Monday).
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar received his Saudi counterpart at the airport while Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Saeed Ahmad Al-Malkiy among other officials was also present
The Saudi FM is visiting Pakistan after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, during a recent meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, reaffirmed that Riyadh would never leave Islamabad alone.
During their stay in Pakistan, the Saudi delegation is expected to hold meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari, PM Shehbaz, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir, and others.
The delegation consists of Saudi Minister of Water and Agriculture Engineer Abdul Rahman Abdul Mohsen Al-Fadley, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Ibrahim AlKhorayef, Deputy Minister of Investment Badr AlBadr, Head of Saudi Special Committee Mohammad Mazyed Al Towaijri, and senior officials from Ministry of Energy and Saudi Fund for General Investments.
During the premier’s visit, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had doubled down on its pledge to speed up the initial phase of their $5 billion investment in Pakistan.
The two-day visit is aimed at lending positive impetus to enhanced bilateral cooperation and mutually rewarding economic partnership.
Meanwhile, In a bid to facilitate the common man amid back-breaking inflation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed for drastic measures to reduce the per unit cost of electricity.
Presiding over a high-level review meeting regarding power sector, the PM directed for shifting of coal-run power plants from imported fuel to local coal, besides improvement in the power supply sys-tem. He said that in future, only clean, cost effective and renewable power plants should be set up in the country.
The country’s chief executive also asked for proposals for better utilisation of the current surplus power generation capacity in industries. He observed that wheeling price of electricity should be reduced for the industrial consumers so that power supply at reduced price could be made possible, besides for the industrial development and increase in export, grid stations should be installed near big industries.
The process of auction process of those power plants of Power Generation Companies (GENCOs) that were lying dysfunctional and defective should be accelerated, he further directed.
The PM said that the government was taking all measures to reduce price of power per unit for the common man whereas to reduce circular debt, reforms in the power sector were being carried out on priority basis.
The meeting was told that by shifting the coal-run plants from the imported fuel would not only save the precious reserves but also would make it possible to reduce power price by Rs2 per unit for the consumers.
The prime minister directed for swift implementation of all the measures within the stipulated time frame.
Presiding over another meeting, PM Shehbaz called for improving the power transmission network in the country and directed the energy ministry to maximise the utilisation of renewable energy re-sources to reduce the country’s oil import bill by billions of dollars.
“Ultimately, we have to move to renewable energy. The oil import worth billions of dollars can be con-trolled by using alternative resources like solar, wind and hydel. Make cold calculations and I believe, you will be the winner in the long term,” he remarked addressing a meeting he chaired to review the power sector’s performance.
The prime minister said utilising renewable energy resources would also ensure riddance from the crude oil tanker mafia acting as parasites and eating up the national money.
He pointed out that the country currently imports oil worth $27 billion to meet its power and transpor-tation needs, a figure that could be significantly reduced by transitioning to alternative energy sources.
Discussing the ongoing drive against power theft, he lauded the performance of the Punjab govern-ment and expressed the hope that the other provinces would also follow suit to overcome the chal-lenge.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said that strengthening the country’s power transmission system required utmost efforts and investment otherwise the power production and investments in the sector would go down the drain unless the flaws in the transmission network were removed.
He asked the energy ministry to engage world-class consultants to suggest the government ways for-ward to boost the country’s power transmission system.
Additionally, the prime minister mentioned the heavy rains affecting parts of the country and ex-pressed condolences for the lives lost.
The PM told the participants that he had asked the chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to coordinate with the provinces and Provincial Disaster Management Authorities to dispatch relief items to the affected areas. –Agencies
