RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) acting President Muhammad Badar Haroon has said that visit of Saudi Crown Prince, Muhammad Bin Salman, will cement the trade, investment and economic relations between the two brotherly Islamic countries. The business community, at large, not only welcomes the Prince visit but also attaches high hopes with proposed memorandum on understandings (MOUs) worth $20 billion.
He termed business to business (B2B) meetings during Pak-Saudi Business Conference, successful and fruitful. RCCI President said that Saudi Arabia is a big economic player and we (Pakistan) should engage countries and improve trade ties through regional integration.
He informed that seven key agreements were signed including cooperation between the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organisation. “This will help us promoting industrial efficiency to improve the competitiveness of Pakistani products in the international markets”.
The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) will finance the supply of crude oil and petroleum products to Pakistan. The proposed $10 billion oil refinery in Gwadar, Balochistan will address the unemployment issue and help Pakistan to meet its growing petro needs.
RCCI President said that the bilateral trade volume stands between the two countries stands at 3.7 billion dollars and we expect that with these MOUs, this will further increase to 5 billion dollar in next couple of years.