Saudi Arabia is not only our brother but also the centre of our religious beliefs. No words are strong enough to describe the most warm brotherly relations based on mutual respect and love between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. These two countries are no doubt cited as being the most ideal in terms of their mutually trusted relations around the world. Saudi Arabia has always stood with and supported Pakistan in every difficult situation, be it some natural calamity, foreign aggression or any other problem of grave nature.
Pakistan is facing water scarcity threats which are looming large on the horizon. Saudi Arabia is also one of the most water- scarce countries globally. Saudi Arabia recently hosted an important moot on water scarcity in close collaboration with France, Kazakhstan, and the World Bank .”One Water Summit” on the margin of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification in Riyadh, Saudi capital. It afforded an elusive opportunity to the world leaders to gather and mutually deliberate on ways and means for ensuring the sustainability and management of water resources.
The PM’s visit to Saudi Arabia was quite hectic in the sense that after attending “One Water Summit ” deliberations and holding quite fruitful meetings with the Saudi Crown Prince and the French President on the sidelines of the important moot, he had virtually rushed back to Islamabad to attend his pressing engagements at home without going to Makkah or elsewhere in the Saudi Kingdom
At the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (popularly known by his initials of MBS), Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif paid a two-day hectic visit to attend The One Water Summit at Riyadh.
PM Shebaz Sharif in his speech highlighted the water scarcity issue faced by his country as well as many others around the globe and underscored the most dire need for a strong political will for tackling the onrushing water crisis, said water was the lifeblood of the planet as it was the cornerstone of economic uplift, food security and environment sustainability, emphatically pointing out the urgent need for the international cooperation and collaboration for addressing the growing water-related challenges immediately.
The PM further stated that water was life sustaining; however, it was coming under increasing stress, nearly half of the world population was facing water scarcity, adequate funding was needed for climate resilient infrastructure and overcoming the financing gap was critical for climate-resilient countries like Pakistan. He called for establishing the frameworks for transparency, data sharing and regional cooperation to avoid conflicts and promote shared water resources.
Highlighting the water scarcity problems of his country, the PM said that Pakistan was also one of those countries which were facing the water shortage; nearly 70 percent of our land consists of arid and semi-arid areas; around 30 percent of the population was directly affected by drought-like conditions, projected temperature was increasing and was significantly higher than the global average .Pointing to the initiatives like Recharge Pakistan and National Drought Plan, the PM pointedly stated that such initiatives could not be implemented effectively without necessary resources and technology. He also proposed a six-point agenda for tackling the water related challenges facing the world at large.
Besides actively participating in ” One Water Summit” deliberations the PM also held two important and quite productive meetings on its sidelines with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman and French President Emmanuel Macron and exchanged views on bilateral relations with them.
Both the PM and MBS importantly reiterated the need for bringing about a qualitative shift in Pak-Saudi bilateral relationship in terms of their economic, trade, and investment relations and expressed their satisfaction at the pace of progress on the implementation of a number of Saudi Memorandums of Understanding and agreements regarding investment in Pakistan, with both leaders emphatically assuring to bring a major transformation in the bilateral ties of both the brotherly countries.
The Saudi Crown Prince called for pretty meaningful cooperation between the two countries for ensuring economic growth and prosperity in Pakistan.
On his part, the PM thanked the Saudi Crown Prince for his persistent and most appreciable affection for Pakistan and its people and hosting a very timely useful summit. PM Shehbaz Sharif extended an invitation to visit Pakistan at his earliest convenience. MBS seemingly looked very happy about his having six meetings with the Pakistani leader in as many months.
And Pakistan and France agreed to further enhance their cooperation through business-to-business contacts in the areas of agriculture, livestock, information technology, skills development and clean drinking water when PM Shehbaz Sharif called on French President Emmanuel Macron. Both leaders quite emphatically reiterated their shared desires to continuously remain closely engaged on all regional and global issues as well as concerns of mutual interest. Expressing satisfaction at its positive trajectory, the French President and the Pakistani PM warmly exchanged views on the prevailing full spectrum of the Paris-Islamabad relationship including political, economic, trade and investment as well as cooperation at all multilateral forums including the United Nations.
The PM also stressed the need to further strengthen mutually beneficial economic and trade relations between France and Pakistan and exhorted the French President to avail the vast investment opportunities in Pakistan in different sectors. He also commended the French leadership role on climate change and development issues while recalling President Macron’s strong advocacy for the people of Pakistan in the wake of devastating floods in 2022.
The PM’s visit to Saudi Arabia was quite hectic in the sense  that after attending “One Water Summit ” deliberations and holding quite fruitful meetings with the Saudi Crown Prince and the French President on the sidelines of the important moot, he had virtually rushed back to Islamabad to attend his pressing engagements at home without going to Makkah or elsewhere in the Saudi Kingdom.
