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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has accepted the invitation of King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud to participate in a summit to be attended by US President Donald Trump and other world leaders in Riyadh later this month.
Saudi Minister for Information and Culture Dr Awwad Bin Saleh Al-Awwad, who is a special envoy of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques, extended the invitation to the prime minister in a meeting here on Tuesday, the PM Office said.
A Gulf News report posted on its website said invitations for the coming Arab, Islamic and United States summit were being sent to leaders of the member countries of the Saudi-led Islamic coalition to fight terrorism.
Pakistan is a part of the 41-nation Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism and last month, the government granted a no-objection certificate to former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif to assume the command of the coalition.
The report said the Islamic-US summit was expected to address the issue of “hatred” and President Trump would most likely use the occasion to directly reassure Muslims that the US did not oppose Islam or Muslims.
On May 4, President Trump announced that he would travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel this month, where he would work to reinvigorate traditional alliances in the region.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir had described Mr Trump’s visit to the kingdom as a historic visit and one that would entail a bilateral summit, one with Arab Gulf leaders and the US and another one with Arab and Muslim countries.
According to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), invitations have been sent to the presidents of Algeria, Yemen, Turkey, Iraq, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, the prime ministers of Bangladesh and Pakistan and the kings of Bahrain, Morocco, Jordan and other countries.
Media reports said the summit would begin on May 21.
Meanwhile, the SPA quoted PM Sharif as telling the special envoy of King Salman that Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with Saudi Arabia, as both countries had identical viewpoints on most issues and they were working side by side in the service of their common interests and objectives.
Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2017
