Saudi Arabia signs $20bn deals with Pakistan

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced Saudi Arabia will invest $20 billion in Pakistan with the possibility of more in the future.

The deals include funding for an $8bn oil refinery in the city of Gwadar.

The crown prince said this is the "first phase" of a series of investments that "will certainly grow each month and every year".

Prince Mohammed is in Pakistan for a two-day tour at the invitation of Prime Minister Imran Khan after delaying his trip by a day.

The Saudi royal was welcomed to Islamabad on Sunday by JF-17 and F-16 fighter jets, which escorted his plane as it entered Pakistani airspace.

Pakistan also said it would confer its highest civilian honor on the Saudi crown prince, the Order of Pakistan, a day after the investment deals were finalized.

The crown prince began the tour by holding talks with Khan, according to the Saudi Press Agency. During the meeting, seven bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed, including an agreement to finance the supply of crude oil and petroleum products to Pakistan.

Pakistan is suffering a financial crisis. It has only $8bn left in foreign reserves and is looking to international backers for support.

Both sides also signed up to a technical co-operation programme between the Saudi Standards, Metrology, and Quality Organisation and the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority.

His visit comes amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and its arch-rival India following a suicide bombing in the disputed Kashmir region that killed at least 40 Indian troops and was blamed on a Pakistan-based separatist group.

Pakistan is the Saudi crown prince's first stop on an Asian tour aimed at building the kingdom's business ties in the east. However, his visits to Malaysia and Indonesia have been postponed, the two countries' foreign ministries said without giving any reason, leaving only Pakistan, China and India on the itinerary.