Imran paid five visits to Saudi Arabia in two years
PM Imran Khan meets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday. PHOTO: PID/FILE
In the first two years in office, Prime Minister Imran Khan undertook officials visits to nine countries, including five to Saudi Arabia, three each to China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and two each to Malaysia, United States and Iran.
The details of the prime minister’s foreign visits were presented in the National Assembly on Monday. According to the official documents no private person accompanied the prime minister on his foreign tours.
Prime Minister Imran paid his first visit to Saudi Arabia in September 2018 in which federal ministers and the then director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt General Naveed Mukhtar were part of his delegation.
Imran’s second visit to Saudi Arabia came on October 22, 2018. He then paid three more visits to kingdom in 2019. He was accompanied by members of the federal cabinet and high-ranking government officials during these visits.
In September 2018, Imran made his first visit to the UAE during which Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and key federal ministers accompanied him. His second visit to the country came on November 18, 2018 and the third one on February 10, 2019.
Imran’s first visit to China came on November 1, 2018. He took with him a 28-member delegation. Similarly, He led a 29-member delegation during his second visit to China on April 25, 2019. On his third visit to China on October 7, 2019, he was accompanied by a 24-member delegation.
On April 21, 2019, the prime minister visited Iran along with a 26-member delegation. On October 13, 2019, the prime minister paid a daylong visit to Iran again, accompanied by a 16-member delegation, including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Zulfi Bukhari, the ISI chief.
The first of Imran’s two visits to the United States started on July 20, 2019. He was accompanied by a 27-member delegation, including Army Chief Gen Bajwa, then DG Inter-Service Public Relations Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor and ISI DG Lt Gen Faiz Hameed. His visited the US again in on September 21, 2019.
On November 21, 2018, the prime minister travelled to Malaysia along with a 25-member delegation. On February 3, 2020, the prime minister paid his second visit to Malaysia.
On January 3, 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan paid his first visit to Turkey along with a 21-member delegation. On January 21, 2012, he visited Qatar with a 24-member delegation. The prime minister visited Kyrgyzstan on June 13 along with an 18-member delegation.
On January 21, 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan left for Davos to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF). Imran’s wife Bushra Bibi accompanied him on only two foreign trips, including the one to Saudi Arabia to attend the Islamic Conference in 2019.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly session was adjourned due to lack of quorum. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah pointed out the quorum. After the counting confirmed the lack of quorum. The session was adjourned till Tuesday (today).