Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman and Pakistan’s Minister of Finance and Revenue Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Thursday co-chaired the first meeting of the Steering Committee of the Economic Pillar. The committee is under the Saudi-Pakistani Supreme Coordination Council, which is co-chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. In a statement after the online meeting, Prince Abdulaziz confirmed that the Kingdom considers Pakistan an important partner in its development plans and programs and that the two countries are striving, through the work of this subcommittee to promote areas of cooperation, find new partnership opportunities, and create initiatives of mutual benefit and interest to both counties and their peoples. Prince Abdulaziz commended the strong and historic relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, confirming that bilateral cooperation and joint projects are on the right track. Giving one example, he pointed to the cooperation in energy, under which many topics are currently being discussed, such as cooperation in the oil industry, petrochemicals, electricity, renewable energy, industry, transport, and many other potential areas. The work of the Steering Committee involves a number of other areas including industry, mineral resources, commerce, finance, environment, agriculture, transport, logistics, communications, information technology, tourism and investment. — SG