Earlier, he was scheduled to arrive in Islamabad on January 3 but according to a Foreign Office statement, the visit of Saudi foreign minister had been postponed.
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The visit of Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel Bin Ahmed al Jubeir to Pakistan was postponed at the last minute on Sunday apparently due to the kingdom’s rising tensions with arch-rival Iran over the execution of a leading Shia cleric over terrorism charges.
Later, a new date – January 7 – for the Saudi foreign minister’s arrival was announced.
The announcement of the visit’s postponement came amid a rise in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, after Iranian protestors ransacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and Riyadh ordered the Iranian ambassador to leave the Kingdom within 24 hours.
Saudi FM had to meet top ranked Pakistani leadership to discuss on different aspects of bilateral relations and regional and global issues of mutual interest.
“Participation of Pakistan in Saudi-led 34-nation coalition against terrorism is of voluntary nature and Pakistan will decide to join this alliance with total support and accordance with its requirements and priorities”, Sartaj Aziz said.
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Three days ago, Saudi Assistant Defence Minister for Military Affairs, Mohammad Bin Abdullah Al Ayish, visited the Pakistani military’s general headquarters in Rawalpindi and met with the army chief, General Raheel Sharif. Saudi Arabia recently announced the formation of the 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism.
