Pakistan and Qatar have deep and fraternal relations based on religion and culture. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif left for a 2-day official visit to Qatar yesterday.
Shehbaz Sharif is visiting Qatar for the first time after assuming the office of the Prime Minister, and the opinion of the observers is that this visit is very important in terms of political and economic partnership and bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Qatar.
When the Shehbaz Sharif cabinet started working, the country was facing serious political and economic problems. The Prime Minister’s visit can be said to be a reflection of the foreign policy based on looking toward friendly countries in view of Pakistan’s severe financial difficulties.
Regarding the visit to Qatar, Foreign Office Spokesman Asim Iftikhar says that the Prime Minister decided to visit Qatar on August 23 and 24 at the invitation of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. The video of the Prime Minister’s departure was also released on social media.
On the one hand, Pakistan is hopeful that the IMF will release the tranche of $1.20 billion of the suspended loan soon, however, at least 4 billion dollars of aid is necessary to cover the shortfall in foreign exchange reserves. Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has already indicated to cover the current account deficit by taking 4 billion dollars from friendly countries.
Qatar is also expected to announce an economic package to Pakistan, which is expected to be unveiled during the Prime Minister’s visit to Qatar. Apart from this, promoting bilateral issues including economic and economic cooperation is also on top of the agenda of the Prime Minister’s visit.
Javed Hafeez, the former ambassador posted in Doha, says that Pakistan received the money from Qatar in 2019 during the PTI period.
Currently, at least 200,000 Pakistanis are doing various jobs in Qatar and the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries, i.e. imports and exports, is said to be two and a half billion dollars. Qatar’s role has also been important in establishing peace in Afghanistan.
Earlier in 2019, the Emir of Qatar visited Pakistan during which 3 billion Qatari riyals were provided to Pakistan. The foundations of bilateral cooperation between the two countries at the diplomatic, regional, economic and defense levels are very strong.
