Riyadh: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said that he would once again extend a hand of friendship to India after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as he believed New Delhi rebuffed his offer of talks because Pakistan is an issue in the elections in the neighbouring country. Speaking at the high-profile Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh, Imran said Pakistan wants “peace with all our neighbours particularly India and Afghanistan for regional peace and stability.”
“Peace with India would help the two countries to divert their resources towards human development instead of indulging in arms race,” Imran was quoted as saying by state-run Radio Pakistan. Similarly, peace in Afghanistan would help Pakistan to have an easy access to the Central Asian states for bilateral economic and trade activities, he said. Imran said he had extended a hand of friendship to India, which was rebuffed. After assuming power in August, Imran wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting a meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers on the margins of the UN General Assembly in September. India accepted the proposal but, within hours of its acceptance, terrorists killed three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir, prompting New Delhi to cancel the foreign ministers’ meeting on the sidelines of the UNGA.
Pakistan gets $6 billion from Saudis
Pakistan has negotiated a $6 billion assistance package of loans and deferred payments from Saudi Arabia in hopes of resuscitating its flagging economy, struggling under the weight of a whopping $18 billion deficit. Analysts say the Saudi infusion will allow Islamabad to breathe a little easier as it seeks a critical loan from the International Monetary Fund.
The deal was signed by Pakistan's Finance Minister Asad Umar and his Saudi counterpart, Muhammad Abdullah Al-Jadaan, on the sidelines of an international investment forum in Riyadh. It came as Imran attended the high-profile conference, despite calls from Pakistani human rights activists to boycott the venue in protest against the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Many business executives, officials and others have pulled out of the gathering, known as the Future Investment Initiative Conference, which was the brainchild of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Imran inherited an economy in shambles, with foreign exchange reserves barely sufficient to cover a month's worth of the country's import bills. The desperately needed Saudi financial infusion provides Pakistan with an immediate $3 billion to bolster its foreign exchange reserves, according to a foreign ministry statement. Pakistan is to return the $3 billion after one year, but the terms are apparently negotiable.
Pakistan is also to receive $3 billion in oil imports on a buy-now-pay-later basis under the Saudi deal. Currently, Pakistan imports more than 1 million barrels of Saudi oil a day at an annual cost of $3 billion. "Now Pakistan is in a better position to talk to IMF negotiators and perhaps negotiate more favorable conditions," a source said. The IMF team is expected to visit Pakistan next month.
