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Saudi Arabia, Pakistan Seek to Boost Trade, Support Investors

Saudi-Pakistani Business Council Chairman to Asharq Al-Awsat: We are working on boosting strategic investments.

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar chair the Saudi-Pakistani Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in Islamabad on Tuesday. (SPA)
Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar chair the Saudi-Pakistani Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in Islamabad on Tuesday. (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia, Pakistan Seek to Boost Trade, Support Investors

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar chair the Saudi-Pakistani Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in Islamabad on Tuesday. (SPA)
Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar chair the Saudi-Pakistani Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in Islamabad on Tuesday. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are seeking to bolster economic cooperation, boost the trade exchange between them and support investors to expand their work in the two countries.  

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar chaired in Islamabad on Tuesday a meeting of the Saudi-Pakistani Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).  

A high-level Saudi delegation attended the meeting. It included Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadley, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef, Advisor to the Royal Court Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, Assistant Minister of Investment Ibrahim Al-Mubarak, as well as a number of senior officials from the ministries of foreign affairs and energy, Public Investment Fund, and the Saudi Fund for Development.  

Prince Faisal praised the deep-rooted Saudi-Pakistani relations, stressing that the Saudi delegation’s visit complements the meeting held by Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Makkah.  

For his part, Dar praised the deep bonds and strategic interests that bind Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. He highlighted the importance of bolstering the strategic and economic partnership and the vital role played by Saudi investments in boosting this bond. 

He highlighted the SIFC platform through which Islamabad is seeking to simplify investment operations and create a prosperous investment environment in Pakistan. 

He underlined the abundant opportunities for investment in Pakistan in the fields of agriculture, Information Technology, and mining, calling on Saudi investors to forge partnerships that are beneficial to both parties. 

Officials from the SIFC delivered comprehensive presentations about the investment opportunities in the main sectors of the Pakistani economy.  

For their part, Saudi officials stressed the importance of improving the investment environment in Pakistan, praising the role of the SIFC in amicably settling investment issues. 

The two parties set a bilateral executive mechanism to coordinate affairs related to investments so that pledges can be transformed into tangible results. 

Chairman of the Saudi-Pakistani Business Council Fahd al-Bash stressed to Asharq Al-Awsat the importance of the SIFC meeting, saying it was preparing a number of major investments in the Pakistani economy. 

This reflects Saudi Arabia’s commitment to supporting the people of Pakistan and bolstering economic and trade relations between the countries, he remarked.  

“We believe in the cooperation and partnership between the two countries and we aspire to boost these ties in various sectors through promising strategic investments and partnerships,” he added.  

“We are optimistic about the future of the economic and trade relations and look forward to a new chapter in fruitful and sustainable cooperation,” he went on to say. 

Prince Faisal is on an official visit to Pakistan where he met with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif. 

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Business

Saudi Arabia Allows Contracting Exceptions for Firms without Regional HQ

The King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Allows Contracting Exceptions for Firms without Regional HQ

The King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has introduced greater flexibility into its investment environment, allowing government entities, under strict controls to safeguard spending efficiency and ensure the delivery of critical projects, to seek exceptions to contract with international companies that do not have regional headquarters in the kingdom.

The Local Content and Government Procurement Authority notified all government bodies of the mechanism to apply for exemptions through the Etimad digital platform.

The step is designed to balance enforcement of the “regional headquarters relocation” decision, in force since early 2024, with the needs of technically specialized projects or those driven by intense price competition.

Under a government decision that took effect at the start of 2024, state entities, including authorities, institutions and government-affiliated funds, are barred from contracting with any foreign commercial company whose regional headquarters in the region is located outside Saudi Arabia.

According to the information, the Local Content and Government Procurement Authority informed all entities of the rules governing contracts with companies that lack a regional headquarters in the kingdom and related parties.

Government entities may request an exemption from the committee for specific projects, multiple projects or a defined time period, provided the application is submitted before launching a tender or initiating direct contracting procedures.

Submission mechanism

In two circulars, the authority detailed how to submit exemption requests and clarified the cases in which contracting is permitted under the controls. It said the exemption service was launched on the Etimad platform in November 2025.

The service is available to entities that float tenders through Etimad. Requests for tenders launched before the service went live, as well as those issued outside the platform, will continue to follow the previously adopted process.

Etimad is the kingdom’s official financial services portal run by the Ministry of Finance, aimed at driving digital transformation of government procedures and boosting transparency and efficiency in managing budgets, contracts, payments, tenders and procurement. The platform streamlines transactions between state entities and the private sector.

Technical criteria

When issuing the contracting controls, the government made clear that companies without a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia, or related parties, are not barred from bidding for public tenders.

However, their offers can only be accepted in two cases: if there is no more than one technically compliant bid, or if the offer ranks among the best technically and is at least 25% lower in price than the second-best bid after overall evaluation.

Contracts with an estimated value of no more than 1 million riyals ($266,000) are also exempt. The minister may, in the public interest, amend the threshold, cancel the exemption or suspend it temporarily.

More than 700 headquarters

More than 700 multinational companies had relocated their regional headquarters to Riyadh by early 2026, exceeding the initial target of attracting 500 companies by 2030. The program seeks to cement the kingdom’s position as a regional business hub and to localize global expertise.

When announcing the contracting ban, Saudi Arabia said the move was intended to incentivize foreign firms dealing with the government and its affiliated entities to adjust their operations.

It aims to create jobs, curb economic leakage, raise spending efficiency and ensure that key goods and services procured by government entities are delivered inside the kingdom with appropriate local content.

The government said the policy aligns with the objectives of the Riyadh 2030 strategy unveiled during the recent Future Investment Initiative forum, where 24 multinational companies announced plans to move their regional headquarters to the Saudi capital.

It stressed that the decision does not affect any investor’s ability to enter the Saudi economy or continue working with the private sector.

 

Business

IMF Board to Review Staff-level $8.1 Bln Agreement for Ukraine

The city's downtown on a frosty winter day, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
The city's downtown on a frosty winter day, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
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IMF Board to Review Staff-level $8.1 Bln Agreement for Ukraine

The city's downtown on a frosty winter day, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko
The city's downtown on a frosty winter day, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Alina Smutko

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said its board ​would review a staff-level agreement for a new $8.1 billion lending program for Ukraine in coming days.

IMF spokeswoman Jule Kozack told reporters that Ukrainian authorities had completed the prior actions needed to move forward with the request ⁠of a new ⁠IMF program, including submission of a draft law on the labor code and adoption of a budget.

She said Ukraine's economic growth in 2025 ⁠was likely under 2%. After four years of war, the country's economy had settled into a slower growth path with larger fiscal and current account balances, she said, noting that the IMF continues to monitor the situation closely.

"Russia's invasion continues to take a ⁠heavy ⁠toll on Ukraine's people and its economy," Kozack said. Intensified aerial attacks by Russia had damaged critical energy and logistics infrastructure, causing disruptions to economic activity, Reuters quoted her as saying.

As of January, she said, 5 million Ukrainian refugees remained in Europe and 3.7 million Ukrainians were displaced inside the country.

Business

US Stocks Fall as Iran Angst Lifts Oil Prices

A screen displays a stock chart at a work station on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
A screen displays a stock chart at a work station on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
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US Stocks Fall as Iran Angst Lifts Oil Prices

A screen displays a stock chart at a work station on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
A screen displays a stock chart at a work station on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Wall Street stocks retreated early Thursday as worries over US-Iran tensions lifted oil prices while markets digested mixed results from Walmart.

US oil futures rose to a six-month high as Iran's atomic energy chief Mohammad Eslami said no country can deprive the Islamic republic of its right to nuclear enrichment, after US President Donald Trump again hinted at military action following talks in Geneva.

"We'd call this an undercurrent of concern that is bubbling up in oil prices," Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare said of the "geopolitical angst."

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.6 percent at 49,379.46, AFP reported.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.5 percent to 6,849.35, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.6 percent to 22,621.38.

Among individual companies, Walmart rose 1.7 percent after reporting solid results but offering forecasts that missed analyst expectations.

Shares of the retail giant initially fell, but pushed higher after Walmart executives talked up artificial intelligence investments on a conference call with analysts.

The US trade deficit in goods expanded to a new record in 2025, government data showed, despite sweeping tariffs that Trump imposed during his first year back in the White House.