Pakistan offers tremendous investment opportunities to foreign investors and would welcome Saudi Arabian investment in all fields, according to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. He was talking to visiting Saudi Finance Minister Dr Ibrahim Al-Assaf Thursday in Islamabad, during which they agreed to further strengthen economic, trade and commercial ties. A report of the Pakistan Press International (PPI) said Prime Minister Aziz briefed on state of national economy and government's investment policy. He said his government intends to set up an oil refinery in coastal areas of the country to export petroleum products. Saudi businessmen are invited to invest in this project. Referring to a proposal of President Pervez Musharraf to set up a pan- Islamism Fund, Shaukat Aziz expressed his confidence that the Fund with contributions from all Muslim countries would go a long way in opening up new opportunities of development in the Muslim world. On water shortage problems, he said the government has decided to set up a Consortium of credit suppliers to construct water reservoirs in the country. Saudi entrepreneurs can also play a role in this regard. The Saudi Finance Minister assured that US$133 million grant pledged by his country for reconstruction efforts in earthquake-hit areas would be provided to Pakistan shortly. The soft loan of $187 million would also be released soon. He also announced to set up a 40-bed mobile hospital by Saudi Arabia in the quake-hit areas. The two sides agreed that a joint meeting of Pakistani and Saudi business community would be arranged to discuss business potentials in the two countries.
