Saudi crown prince MBS delays visit to Pakistan for unspecified reasons

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince has deferred his visit to Pakistan for unspecified reasons, dimming the much-anticipated event that Islamabad was hoping would secure further investments and agreements between the two allies.

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman had been expected to visit Pakistan on 19 May, but according to media reports, that has now been delayed until a later date while Islamabad and Riyadh continue to work out an agreed-upon schedule.

According to the Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch on Friday, the details of the future visit will be made public as soon as a schedule is worked out between the two nations, with Baloch assuring confidence that the visit would take place soon.

Although Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif has twice met with bin Salman over the past five weeks, the crown prince’s visit was set to be his first to the South Asian nation in five years since February 2019 during the rule of former prime minister Imran Khan.

Islamabad has long awaited the visit by the Saudi crown prince, with the event expected to bring lucrative investments into Pakistani industries and fields, as well as significant bilateral agreements advancing trade and defence cooperation. It comes especially at a time when Pakistan continues to undergo an economic crisis, leaving it searching for ways to alleviate its financial woes.

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