Saudi, Pakistan took up strategic ties, roadmap for future relationship: Khar

A roadmap of collaboration and cooperation to further strengthen strategic relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan figured prominently in talks between Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Prince Salman, the Saudi deputy premier and defence minister, and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal. “I have had intensive discussions on the roadmap that will set out a new vision of relationship between the two countries,” the Pakistani foreign minister said in an interview with a leading Saudi newspaper, adding that the roadmap was agreed upon during the visit of Prince Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah to Pakistan a few months ago. The talks between Crown Prince Salman and Khar were followed by another round of consultations between Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and the visiting Pakistani minister at the Foreign Ministry yesterday. In her interview, Khar said the talks with Saudi leadership “focused mainly on the roadmap and on a range of bilateral and regional issues including Syria and Afghanistan”. Khar, wearing a black abaya, spoke very candidly on regional and international subjects besides giving an overview of the progressively growing Riyadh-Islamabad relations with special reference to Pakistan’s presidency of the 15-member UN Security Council that began yesterday.