PM Shehbaz to visit Saudi Arabia within 48 hours

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to visit Saudi Arabia within the next 48 hours following an invitation from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a TV news channel reported on Monday.

During the visit to Riyadh, a longstanding ally of Pakistan, the premier is expected to hold consultations on key regional and international developments, signalling continued diplomatic engagement between the two countries.

The visit follows much-anticipated talks in Islamabad, which ran from Saturday into early Sunday and were the first direct US-Iranian meeting in more than a decade and the highest-level discussions since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Discussions on financial cooperation are also expected to feature prominently, particularly after Riyadh and Doha announced $5 billion in assistance for Pakistan.

The prime minister will be accompanied by Chief of Defence Forces Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and Special Assistant Syed Tariq Fatemi. Monitoring Desk