The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, left today for Islamabad from Malaysia to pay a two-day state visit to Pakistan at the invitation of President Pervez Musharraf. Saudi Ambassador Ali Awadh Asseri told the reporters that during King Abdullah's visit Saudi Arabia and Pakistan would sign five agreements on avoidance of double taxation, vocational training, higher education, science and technology and political consultations. Pakistan has made massive preparations to receive the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in a royal manner. President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will be at the Pakistan Air Force Base Chaklala to receive the king. Asseri said the visit would greatly contribute to further strengthening of Saudi-Pak fraternal relations, which are going strong with every passing day for the last sixty years. He said that ministers accompanying the king would discuss with their Pakistani counterparts a host of issues relating to them to cement cooperation. The ambassador said that the visit would produce tangible results because Saudi-Pakistan relations are very profound and deep, which cannot be matched with the ties of any two countries of the world. King Abdullah would hold talks with Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz and grace the state banquet and lunched hosted by them respectively in his honor. Asseri said he was very much impressed with the huge preparations made by the government and people of Pakistan to accord a historic reception to King Abdullah. "The visit would be a reaffirmation of the long, historical and fraternal relations that have existed between the two brotherly countries for almost six decades now," the ambassador said in a statement he distributed to the reporters. He said that this was King Abdullah's second visit to Pakistan in a short span of just over two years, which signifies the importance that he attaches to the relations with brotherly Pakistan. Indeed, it is a special relationship that does not exist between any other two countries in this world. "It is unique, profound and special. It is an extraordinary relationship that encompasses the parameters of religious, social and cultural domains. It dates back to the times when Pakistan came into being in 1947 and each day since then has witnessed a gradual strengthening of this special bond between our two brotherly countries," Asseri said.
