JEDDAH: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday at the start of a four-day tour before a possible second round of US-Iran peace talks, his office said in a statement.
Sharif will also visit Qatar and Turkey on his trip, which comes after Washington and Tehran held their highest-level talks in decades in Islamabad last weekend.
The Pakistani leader will discuss the “regional situation” with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, his office said.
The visits to Saudi Arabia and Qatar will be conducted “in the bilateral context”, while Sharif will participate in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum while in Turkey, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said earlier.Sharif will also hold bilateral meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other leaders on the sidelines of the Antalya forum, it said.
The Islamabad talks marked a step forward in efforts to end the war that began when the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
Iran targeted US allies in the Gulf — including Saudi Arabia and Qatar — in retaliation and blocked energy exports from the region, sending oil prices soaring.
The talks concluded without an agreement to end the conflict, but US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that negotiations could resume this week in the Pakistani capital.
A fragile ceasefire due to expire next week remains in place, despite the United States ordering a naval blockade of Iran.
Sharif is being accompanied by Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar — one of the mediators during the US-Iran talks — and other senior officials on his visits, his office said.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia share close ties, and Islamabad’s finance ministry announced on Wednesday that Riyadh would provide Pakistan with $3 billion to help bolster its foreign reserves. That support came days after Pakistan said it was returning billions in loans to Riyadh’s ally-turned-rival the United Arab Emirates.
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