Mohammed bin Salman, Shehbaz Sharif Discuss Regional, Int’l Developments

The Saudi Crown Prince met on Wednesday with the Pakistani Prime Minister at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. SPA
The Saudi Crown Prince met on Wednesday with the Pakistani Prime Minister at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. SPA
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Mohammed bin Salman, Shehbaz Sharif Discuss Regional, Int’l Developments

The Saudi Crown Prince met on Wednesday with the Pakistani Prime Minister at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. SPA
The Saudi Crown Prince met on Wednesday with the Pakistani Prime Minister at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. SPA

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister, met on Wednesday with Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. 

They discussed regional and international developments, as well as the historic relationship between their countries and means to develop cooperation in various fields. 

The meeting was attended by Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, National Security Adviser Musaed Al-Aiban and the Kingdom’s Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf al-Malki. Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff Syed Asim Munir also attended the meeting. 

Shebaz Sharif had arrived in Jeddah on Wednesday on an official visit. He will discuss with Saudi officials issues of joint interest as they underscore their cooperation on all political and economic levels. 

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan enjoy close relations that go back more than 70 years and that have become elevated to the level of “strategic partnership” due to their respective leaderships’ keenness on developing cooperation in all fields to serve common interests. 

Pakistan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ahmad Farooq had previously told Asharq Al-Awsat that the two countries enjoy strong historic relations and they are bound by their strategic partnership. 

Crown Prince Mohammed had visited Pakistan in February 2019 where he announced the establishment of the Saudi-Pakistani Supreme Coordination Council and the signing of investment agreements worth over 20 billion dollars. 

The council has helped develop relations and deepen political, economic, investment, security and military relations between the two sides. 



Saudi Arabia to Host Talks between US, Russian, Ukrainian Officials on Monday

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gestures as he attends a press conference, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 12, 2025. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gestures as he attends a press conference, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 12, 2025. (Reuters)
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Saudi Arabia to Host Talks between US, Russian, Ukrainian Officials on Monday

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gestures as he attends a press conference, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 12, 2025. (Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy gestures as he attends a press conference, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 12, 2025. (Reuters)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday Ukrainian experts would be present at upcoming talks in Saudi Arabia involving the United States and Russia, but will not be in the same room as Russia, as a diplomatic push to end the war intensifies.

Russian and US experts are due to discuss ways to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea at talks on a possible peace settlement in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the Kremlin said.

"There will be technical teams present there," Zelenskiy said during a visit to Norway.

"I understand that the structure is the following: there will be a meeting of Ukraine and America and then some shuttle diplomacy, as our American colleagues said, America with Russia," he told a press conference with Norway's premier.

Zelenskiy said on Wednesday Kyiv would draw up a list of facilities that could be subject to a partial ceasefire brokered by Washington. That list could include not only energy, but also rail and port infrastructure, he said.

Negotiators from Moscow and the US will meet Monday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser Sergei Ushakov told Russian news agencies.

US President Donald Trump and Zelenskiy agreed on Wednesday to work together to end Russia's war with Ukraine, in what the White House described as a "fantastic" one-hour phone call, their first conversation since their Oval Office shouting match that resulted in a short-term cutoff in US military aid and intelligence to Kyiv.

Trump said on Thursday the United States will sign a minerals and natural resources deal with Ukraine shortly and that his efforts to achieve a peace deal for the country were going "pretty well" after his talks this week with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders.

Ukraine and the US said this month they had agreed to conclude as soon as possible a comprehensive agreement for developing Ukraine's critical mineral resources, which Trump sees as a means to pay back the United States for its assistance to Kyiv.