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| India-Pakistan |
| Saudi oil help on the cards Gilani, Zardari meet King Abdullah |
| 2008-06-08 |
| Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz is said to have given his consent to consider the request made by both Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Asif Ali Zardari regarding the smooth oil supply on affordable prices enabling Pakistan to lessen the negative impacts of the rising oil prices in the international market. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari made this request to King Abdullah in their meeting here on Saturday. However, sources said, the details of such arrangements have not been made public by the two sides. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, having the additional portfolio of petroleum ministry, would also hold another round of talks with his Saudi counterpart before returning home on Sunday. The clear indication of the king to consider the request for cooperation in oil sector in particular and trade, commerce and agriculture in general, would help the new political government to ease some pressure on the common man during the forthcoming budget as this meeting between the two sides has given a new confidence to visiting Prime Minister Gilani and Zardari to return home with some thing substantial in their hands. Till the filing of this report, the petroleum ministers of both the countries were still busy in working out the modalities and formalities of oil facility to Pakistan after an hour-long meeting between Gilani, Zardari and King Abdullah ended. After the consent from King Abdullah, the concerned ministers and official channels will further work out the details of the oil supply and such arrangements may not be made public by the two sides as was done in 1998 after Pakistan went nuclear. Meanwhile, after his meeting with the Saudi King, Prime Minister Gilani himself briefed media men and said he was quite satisfied with the outcome of the meeting as King Abdullah took Pakistan as his second home and was eager to offer the help Pakistan needed at this time. Despite many questions, Gilani did not give the inside details of the meeting and said he could only say that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was busy with his Saudi counterpart in settling the details of the oil facility. Gilani said Pakistan had sought cooperation in oil, trade and agriculture sectors and the Saudi king had promised to consider the requests. Gilani admitted that King Abdullah had also discussed the current political situation in Pakistan in his capacity as the well-wisher of the country. When asked whether King Abdullah had raised the issue of General Pervez Musharraf who was under pressure to quit, Gilani replied that King Abdullah did not talk about any specific person but the overall situation in Pakistan was discussed in the meeting. He said King Abdullah, like every Pakistani, wanted stability in the country as he thought that any damage to Pakistan was not in the interest of the Saudis who love the country. Gilani also said Saudi Arabia had always been supporting Pakistan in difficult times and their relations were just like two brothers. He said he along with Asif Zardari paid rich tributes to the support of the king to Pakistan in its hour of need. He said that they recognised the fact that the world was passing through difficult times because of food and oil crises and agreed to help each other. He said during the meeting both the sides agreed to enhance cooperation in four sectors i.e. oil, trade, commerce and agriculture. He said Pakistan was giving Rs 14 billion subsidy on oil and that was why a request was made to the Saudi king to cooperate in the oil sector. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #3 Actually, this is just a normal adjustment to help pay the Pakis for the 2 divisions of troops that are in Saudi Arabia already. Technically, the Pakis are individuals who got contracts to be security in Saudi Arabia; realistically, all of the Pakis working there have been vetted by Paki intelligence and trained by the Pakistani Army before they left to make the big money in SA. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2008-06-08 21:17 |
| #2 Well the Saudis did pay for the Pak's nuke program. |
| Posted by: john frum 2008-06-08 07:27 |
| #1 And then Pakistan turned over some nukes to the Saudis for the Saudis to put on their Chinese supplied ICBMS. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-06-08 00:43 |