Pakistan 2 BN investment Agreement form Saudi Arabia business forum
Pakistan 2 BN investment Agreement form Saudi Arabia
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, alhamdulillah, wa salatu wa salam ala rasoolillah.
00:06Your Excellency, Honorable Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ishaq Dar.
00:15Your Excellency, Honorable Ministers, Members of the Cabinet of Pakistan,
00:27the ones who spoke so warmly and so eloquently,
00:33and indeed in a very convincing way,
00:36about a great value proposition that is standing in front of us
00:43and is ours to lose, and inshallah we will not lose it,
00:48given the vision and the determination of our leaders, of our people,
00:57and of our great vibrant private sectors and investors from both sides
01:06who I am honored to be with in this Saudi delegation
01:12and to have the opportunity to interact and meet with our colleagues and partners from the Pakistani side.
01:22Let me thank everyone who spoke about the warm welcome,
01:29and I can tell you we felt the warmth of the Pakistani friendship.
01:39We felt the bond just as the door of our airplane opened last night
01:45before we felt even the warmth of the air of Pakistan.
01:53And we have been embraced with open arms, open hearts,
01:57every second of our presence here, like every time we come to Pakistan.
02:03This is not my first visit.
02:06I've been here quite a few times,
02:08and every time we come we see that Pakistan is not a second home,
02:13it is indeed just another very close home to us,
02:18and we are not amongst friends, we are amongst family.
02:23Let me start by conveying, not just to the honorable members of the Pakistani cabinet
02:35who are with us today and the parliamentarians,
02:37but to the entire Pakistani population,
02:41the warmest greetings from the leadership of Saudi Arabia,
02:47His Majesty, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz,
02:52and His Royal Highness, Crown Prince, Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz,
03:01who hold Pakistan in the highest regard as a strategic partner, a cultural partner,
03:11a country like no other in terms of the bond that has united us
03:18for as long as history can chronicle.
03:22Of course, the modern relationship of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan
03:26has its roots from the founding of Pakistan.
03:29Saudi Arabia was with the Pakistani people as they created their own nation in 1947,
03:36and soon after that we entered into a treaty of partnership in 1951.
03:46So very soon we will be marking 75 years since the entry into that treaty.
03:56But Saudi Arabia and Pakistan need no agreements, no treaties.
04:00We are united, we are bonded, we are connected.
04:07Our Islamic relationship and our spiritual relationship
04:14have been created 1,400 years ago with the advent of Islam,
04:20and the Muslim people in this region were one of the first to enter into Islam.
04:26And all of us studied early in our childhood
04:31how the people of the Sindh Valley embraced Islam so passionately,
04:39and we continue to see it.
04:41We see it in Saudi Arabia with over 2.5 million Pakistanis
04:47who are supporting our country,
04:50who are making Saudi Arabia tick with their contribution
04:56in every aspect of our economy and our society.
05:07We see it in over 160,000 Pakistanis who participate every year in Hajj.
05:16We see it in over 1.8 million people who travel to Saudi Arabia for Umrah.
05:25Every year, and in a way, fuel that bond that unites our people.
05:35I am grateful that after our arrival last night,
05:40we saw that warmth and that bond and that reception
05:47from the top of the leadership of Pakistan.
05:52The Honorable President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari,
05:57who is traveling today to a foreign destination,
06:02insisted on receiving us late in the evening last night
06:08and spent a good amount of time impressing on us
06:13his own personal belief and commitment to the relationship
06:17between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan,
06:20and that Pakistan is always there for Saudi,
06:23and that he sees the potential, the complementarity, the synergies,
06:27the great value proposition that each of our countries
06:32makes available to each other if only we would realize it.
06:37And he called on all of us today to work towards that common objective.
06:47We spent a good amount of time with the Honorable Chief of the Army Staff,
06:53General Syed Asim Munir Shah,
06:57and he spoke also from the heart as well as from the mind,
07:02as well as expressing in numbers that are very, very compelling
07:11what the value proposition to the Saudi private sector
07:15from partnering with Pakistan.
07:18And he expressed his commitment that he will see to it
07:24that all matters of red tape will indeed be replaced
07:30with a red carpet treatment for Saudi investment.
07:35And he recalled how he and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
07:40saw to it to create the special one-stop shop,
07:45the special single window, the special bureaucracy elimination mechanism,
07:53the Special Investment Facilitation Council, SIFC,
07:58which many of the honorable members of the cabinet are also members of
08:03and are seeing through that mechanism as well as the other reforms
08:09that are undertaken by the Honorable Prime Minister
08:14will undertake to make Pakistan not only one of the highest return investment destination
08:22but one that is low risk, very much financeable, bankable,
08:28and attractive for Saudi investors.
08:32And the Honorable Prime Minister will be speaking to the Saudi delegation
08:38later this evening and will be presiding over an exchange of agreements and MOUs
08:48totaling 27 that will be signed throughout the day.
08:54Many of them have already been negotiated and agreed
08:58and will be announced today over $2 billion.
09:04And these are very much organic agreements that have been reached
09:10without the strong facilitation that we're embarking on.
09:17I'm happy to hear what the ministers have said.
09:20I'm happy about the efforts of the Ministry of Commerce
09:26and its commitment to increase the trade.
09:30Trade between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan has already increased significantly
09:38by 80% from $3 billion in 2019, $3 billion U.S. dollars,
09:46to $5.4 U.S. dollars.
09:50We are also reasonably encouraged by the number of Pakistani investment licenses
09:59that have also more than doubled in the last couple of years
10:04reaching 2,000 Pakistani investors in Saudi Arabia.
10:09And the FDI stock in Saudi Arabia of Pakistani investment
10:15is already exceeding $1.6 U.S. dollars.
10:21We are committed to and extremely encouraged by the announcement
10:29by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince committing the front end
10:35of Saudi investment into Pakistan, which is $5 billion.
10:41This was announced during the visit of the Honorable Pakistani Prime Minister,
10:48Shahbaz Sharif, when he visited a week or two after he was appointed
10:56in his role after the election.
11:02There was a meeting in Mecca, essentially within the confines of Haram Sharif.
11:10The Honorable Finance Minister and others were there wearing their Haram thobes.
11:18I was also honored to be there, and we saw the warmth,
11:23the mutual commitment from both leaders,
11:27and that what I call the front end of Saudi investment was committed.
11:34And, of course, the PIF has a leading role.
11:37I am glad that we have the PIF represented with us.
11:41And strength here in this delegation, not only representing the PIF
11:46but also bringing many of the PIF portfolio companies,
11:51which is going to be spearheading the Saudi investments,
11:56including Aqua, including Aqua Power and Renewable Energy,
12:01including Manara and Minerals.
12:07And I think these numbers, in my opinion, are only the tip of the tip of the iceberg.
12:16I think the limits, there are essentially no limits to what Saudi Arabia
12:23and Pakistan can do in the economic sphere, just like there are no limits
12:29to our friendship, to our bonds, to our historic relations,
12:34to our political relations at the highest level from the days Saudi Arabia
12:42and Pakistan were created in the last century to many, many centuries in the future.
12:50I think it's been mentioned by our dear Pakistani partners.
12:57They have spoke about Saudi Arabia better than I would be able to speak about Saudi Arabia.
13:03And that again illustrates the kind of bond and complementarity that we have together.
13:12But let me say that Vision 2030 is not only doing well, it's actually ahead of schedule
13:20and we're moving to start thinking about the next phase of envisioning the future.
13:27And the future of Saudi Arabia is going to be one of prosperity.
13:32It's going to be one of empowerment of the people of Saudi Arabia,
13:38empowerment of our private sector and our companies of which we are very, very proud.
13:44And many of them are with us today, over 50 companies that have been breaking their schedules
13:52and their commitments elsewhere to be in this delegation, to be here in Pakistan this week.
14:01But Vision 2030, and this is the key point about Vision 2030 I want to say,
14:07is also about extending our prosperity to our partners and to our friends
14:13and to the countries that we need as much as they need us.
14:17Because no single country, no matter how rich, no matter how strong financially,
14:24can compete in the global world we live in today.
14:29You need demographics, you need large markets, you need human resources in addition to capital.
14:35And Pakistan and Saudi Arabia together provide that complementarity, provide that scale.
14:41But you also need geographic reach and we see that Pakistan is uniquely positioned geographically
14:49with your location extending from the Arabian Sea all the way into the heart of Asia
14:58Central Asia, China, all of the Caspian countries are markets and resources
15:08that are available to Saudi investors to reach through partnering with our Pakistani friends.
15:16In terms of what we can do together, I think first and foremost we want to support Pakistan
15:24continuing on its economic stabilization. Without Pakistan reaching its economic stability
15:34it's very difficult to do things together.
15:36What has been done in the short period, the last two years, is quite impressive,
15:41Your Excellency the Minister of Finance.
15:44And we think it's only the beginning because once the momentum is created
15:50there is no stopping you and Saudi Arabia has been and will continue to be your partner
15:55to achieve that economic stability.
15:59A key element for the private sector from Saudi Arabia to contribute to
16:04is substituting exports that we are getting from other markets to more valuable,
16:12higher quality and indeed lower cost exports from our brotherly nation of Pakistan.
16:21And we heard from the leaders yesterday not only about the mining and the natural resources,
16:28the granite, the marble, the building materials where Saudi Arabia is the largest construction site
16:35in the world, make no mistake about it.
16:39And we will be in the next few years awarding construction and material procurement contracts
16:51reaching about 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars.
16:57Last year the value of construction and EPC procurement including materials was 150 billion dollars.
17:06This year it's 180. It will be about 200 billion dollars annually of contract
17:13and material procurement awards year after year.
17:17Unfortunately for us but in a way fortunately for our partners here in Pakistan
17:23a lot of the input into those contracts is going to be important.
17:30And we want it to be imported from Pakistan, all things being equal.
17:36In fact we will compromise a little bit to make it come from Pakistan.
17:42So a great opportunity.
17:44Beyond trade I think investing jointly in Saudi Arabia, investing in Pakistan,
17:52investing in third countries that are adjacent to Pakistan is an area that,
18:00as I mentioned earlier, with no limits.
18:04We see energy as a natural.
18:06The kingdom has been and will continue to be the kingdom of energy,
18:11the global leader in conventional energy.
18:16We are investing, continuing to invest in oil and gas.
18:20And His Excellency Minister Saddaq mentioned oil to chemicals is a big area for growth
18:31and we want Pakistan as a big market for chemicals to also participate with us.
18:38But the big area of growth, the new area of growth in energy for us is renewable energy.
18:45Solar, wind, hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol,
18:52not only for the consumption of your large population
18:56and what is starting to be a vibrant high growth economy here in the heart of Asia
19:05but we hope that we will allow Pakistan to also export this green energy
19:10and the endowment you have.
19:14Mining and minerals, as mentioned already last night and today, is truly quite significant.
19:21Electrification is already sweeping the global economy.
19:28Saudi Arabia is committed to it.
19:30All of our auto manufacturing sector is centered around EVs and electrification.
19:39We have given our position, it's quite remarkable, given that we are the kingdom of oil,
19:47we are the global leader in terms of reserves, resources, production, exports in oil.
19:53We have bypassed the internal combustion engine and the diesel engine
19:57and leapfrogged straight into electric vehicle.
20:01That means that not only are we going to consume those EVs in Saudi,
20:06we're going to export them, but also we see the electrification sweeping the world.
20:12We see the demand on high voltage cables for transmission across borders and within countries
20:23and we see that happening in Asia from Pakistan all the way to Central Asia
20:28where there is a lot of capped electric production that needs to be exported.
20:35But the unlock for that, as mentioned, is going to be copper, aluminum, and cable manufacturing
20:42and this is one of those areas that we can't wait to work together to unlock for Pakistan,
20:49for Saudi Arabia, and indeed for the global economy.
20:54I am glad that we have with us a newly formed joint venture,
20:59Manara, between PIF and Ma'adin, our national champion in mining,
21:06and they are eager to start a number of initiatives in mining,
21:12but the first one we hope to conclude in the next few weeks
21:18will be for them to enter into the Rekordec project
21:24with the state-owned enterprises of Pakistan and Barrick Gold,
21:31who is working in Saudi Arabia and sees our partnership as additive to the project.
21:39And I think this is just sort of a pilot project that we hope will be multiplied many times over.
21:51We see ICT as a huge area where Pakistan has a near unlimited potential.
22:02The key ingredient for ICT is human talent and we believe in Pakistani talent.
22:10We have seen them in Saudi Arabia since the modern Saudi Arabia
22:14started bringing global human resources.
22:21Pakistanis were one of the first to come to Saudi Arabia
22:26and create Aramco through their human resources.
22:31Pakistani expertise was there early for our banking sector,
22:36and as Musaddegh mentioned, even as consultants and subject matter experts,
22:43he mentored me and taught me. He was very humble when he called me his boss.
22:47He was actually telling me how to build an industrial cluster in Saudi Arabia,
22:54and we took his advice and we're very proud that our industrial sector
22:59is one of the fastest growing, the most competitive certainly in the region,
23:11and we aspire for it to be a global manufacturing and industrial powerhouse in Saudi Arabia.
23:17We're looking to make Saudi Arabia the hub for global supply chain resilience,
23:23not just to meet domestic and regional but global,
23:28and we want to do that by leveraging what you have in Pakistan.
23:31And I talked about mining. I talked about energy.
23:34We certainly want to leverage your human resources and your ICT sector.
23:40We have coined our reshoring initiative in Saudi Arabia as green-shoring
23:47to bring that green energy, and I think we can extend that concept to Pakistan
23:52if we can employ the Saudi companies that are active in renewable energy generation
23:59to embed it in some of the mining resources that have been mentioned,
24:05given that Pakistan, I understand, could be the fourth richest country in copper.
24:12So ICT from manufacturing of components to software development, cloud computing,
24:21AI data processing hub, of course, food security has been brought to the fore
24:30with the recent conflict in Europe, the Russia-Ukraine war,
24:34I think reminded the rest of the world that food security is a global issue,
24:39and it's certainly an issue in Saudi Arabia where for generations
24:44we've been enjoying imports of Pakistani grains, especially Basawar rice from my childhood.
24:52I remember it was our favorite food stock.
24:58Of course, meats and poultry, aquaculture and fishing, and the list goes on.
25:05We believe Pakistan, as we heard yesterday from the Honorable Chief of Army Staff,
25:12can become again the hub for global food security, not just for the Arabian Peninsula.
25:24Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in global acquisition and global direct investment
25:32from Latin America to Europe, Ukraine, Africa,
25:39and we're investing, of course, in South Asia and Central Asia,
25:43and we would love for Pakistan to be a key hub for agriculture, food processing, value-add,
25:51and export to third countries.
25:56Honorable Deputy Prime Minister, Minister, these are only a few examples
26:03of what I see as low-hanging fruits, continuing with the food metaphor,
26:09and really ready for us to grab and turn into opportunities,
26:20to increase the confidence that thousands of other Saudi companies need to have
26:28to come with the 50 companies that came with me today.
26:34And we need to also create a highway that brings the great capabilities of Pakistan
26:44and the Pakistani people to continue what they are doing in Saudi Arabia,
26:48not only contributing to the Saudi Arabia of the future that we're building with Vision 2030,
26:55with their human talent, but also to bring the capability of Pakistani enterprises.
27:04And for them, from both sides, I can tell you no uncertain terms,
27:12and I've heard it repeatedly from the leadership, from my boss,
27:17from the leadership of Pakistan last night,
27:20and the Prime Minister during his visits to Saudi Arabia in March and in May
27:27when he came for the World Economic Forum special meeting.
27:31Both governments are committed to allow, to permit, to facilitate for the private sector
27:40to take its due position as the locomotive that will be pulling both economies.
27:47Both governments, both leaders, everybody on the government side of both nations
27:53sees that the private sector is the driver of our respective economies today
28:01and certainly will be more so in the future.
28:05So you can count on us to be right there with you, behind you,
28:08supporting you to make the opportunities that are right there for you to grab.
28:13And once again, I say there is no limit. The sky is the only limit to what we can do together.
28:20So thank you, your excellencies. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.