Islamabad Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will begin a four-day official visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Türkiye on Wednesday to discuss ongoing bilateral cooperation and regional peace and security.
A foreign ministry statement said Sharif will also participate in the fifth Antalya Diplomatic Forum in Türkiye.
Sharif’s visit comes as Pakistan is engaged in high-level contacts to bring Iran and the United States to the negotiating table, with the two sides likely to hold a second round of talks in Islamabad next week.
On April 11, the US delegation led by Vice President Vance and the Iranian delegation led by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf held historic marathon talks in Islamabad over the weekend, but failed to reach an agreement on a peaceful settlement of the conflict that began on February 28.
The foreign ministry said Sharif will pay a bilateral visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar from April 15 to 18, and the prime minister will meet the leaders of the two countries to discuss ongoing bilateral cooperation as well as regional peace and security.
“Prime Minister Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif will depart from Islamabad for Jeddah today on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, accompanied by a high-level delegation,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a post on X.
On the occasion of the Prime Minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb announced in Washington that the Gulf countries have pledged $3 billion in additional financial support to Pakistan, expected to be disbursed next week, while also extending the maturity of its existing $5 billion deposits. It said it would help increase foreign exchange reserves and strengthen external accounts.
The prime minister will also visit Türkiye to attend the fifth Antalya Diplomatic Forum, where Sharif will join other world leaders in a leadership group meeting to present Pakistan’s perspective at the forum.
During the forum, the prime minister is expected to hold bilateral meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other major world leaders.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ishaq Dar, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Talal and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Saeed Tariq Fatemi.
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
