Pakistan will provide agricultural land to Arab countries for overcoming the crisis of food grains. Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Quraishi told the Gulf media that providing agricultural land to Saudi Arab and United Arab Emirates is aimed at improving ties with the countries. Quraishi said that Arab countries have been offered agricultural land on large scale, so that they could build up big farms. The existing government was holding talks with the Saudi government for obtaining crude worth about $6 billion on deferred payments in a bid to overcome the international price-hikes in crude, while efforts were afoot for attracting the existing petro-dollars in the Arab world for direct investments in Pakistan, he said. - Agencies Existing water stores in the region are expected to be exhausted in 30 years, and yet, food demand is growing. Population growth in the region is more than double the world average, the prices of some staples are up more than 30 percent this year. Continuing to rely on food from other countries, many government leaders have begun laying the groundwork for a new approach: buying or renting farmland in other countries – sometimes thousands of miles away. In recent weeks, officials and businessmen from Saudi Arabia have met with representatives of Thailand and South Africa to talk about buying farmland. The United Arab Emirates has looked at arable land in Sudan, Egypt, and Yemen and is pursuing a $3 billion deal in Pakistan with several private companies to build large corporate farms for growing rice, wheat, sugar cane, and fruits. Abu Dhabi has reportedly signed a deal with Sudan to develop 70,000 acres there. The Gulf states have been the most aggressive in these pursuits, but they are not alone. In April, the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-Bak, expressed interest in renting farmland in eastern Russia or Southeast Asia. Chinese firms have recently pursued deals in the Philippines and Africa.
