BEIJING, Oct 30 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Saudi Arabia is a mutual commitment that accurately aligns the strategic needs of both sides and reshapes the regional cooperation pattern.
From the implementation of the economic framework to the deepening of security cooperation, and further to the coordinated voices on international stages, the outcomes of the visit align with the long-term layouts of both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. They mark the transition of the bilateral relationship from the traditional aid model to a new phase of strategic integration.
These views were expressed by Prof. Cheng Xizhong, Senior Research Fellow at the Charhar Institute, a non-governmental Chinese think-tank on diplomacy and international studies based in Beijing.
Talk to APP, he opined that the core value of the comprehensive economic cooperation framework reached between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia lies in breaking the previous fragmented cooperation model dominated by energy assistance and emergency loans, and establishing a systematic collaboration system covering industries, energy and infrastructure.
According to the consensus reached by both parties, Saudi Arabia will not only advance the implementation of the previously committed investment, but also focus on investing in the energy and manufacturing sectors. This type of industry-embedded cooperation is far more effective than simple loans in activating the endogenous driving force of Pakistan’s economy, he added.
PM Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif’s attendance at the 9th Future Investment Initiative Conference constitutes a targeted multilateral diplomatic move. Against the grand backdrop of the topic “Are Humans Heading in the Right Direction,” the coordinated voices of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia essentially serve to strengthen the common stance of the Islamic world, he said.
Prof Cheng said that overall, PM Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Saudi Arabia is a strategic move characterized by clear objectives, practical outcomes and far-reaching impacts”. It has not only achieved in-depth alignment of the two countries’ interests through the economic framework and security agreement, but also shaped the emerging Pakistan-Saudi Arabia geopolitical alignment against the backdrop of global multiploidization and the restructuring of the Middle East pattern.