Saudi Arabia has been granted full membership of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

Mate KSA has always tried to be on Pakistan's side and they have helped Pakistan on multiple occasions.
But we should know their limitations. It is not that they intentionally doing anything against Pakistan. They are extremely afraid of Arab spring. Which was the modus operandi of CIA under Obama's administration. Morsi was a democratically elected president of Egypt: a key country in MENA so that rang rings of danger... so he had to be removed. Similarly, Erdogan is very popular & democratically elected President of Turkish people and unlike the previous seculars, his being in power reminds the Arabs of Sultanat-e-Usmaniyya. Qatar is the headquarter of Aljazeera...again another nightmare for the Arab rulers since they know Aljazeera played an important role during the Arab springs..Thus all their policies are aimed at protecting and preserving their govts. Furthermore, they always need US & West's support to stay in power because it was the west that brought them into the power. Just remember, Donald Trump's threatening and demeaning statements that king you cannot stay in power for more than two weeks without us...thus they have to obey whatever they are commanded to. But still they do whatever good they can do within their controls. But now they have a strong realisation that eventually USA & west will betray them despite all their positive & goodwill gestures and they know eventually Pakistan will come to their help and yes will do.
Furthermore, Iran has done a lot more damage to Pakistan than any GCC country. Iran's IRGC has been involved in training the terrorist and sending them into Pakistan. RAW also been using Iranian land against Pakistan with the full knowledge & collusion of Iranians. BLA, BRA terrorists get cover either from Iran or NDS in Afghanistan.

I cannot disagree with anything which you wrote.

Eventually, KSA will have to take more drastic measures against us to stay in US’ good books, but even then, it won’t be enough.

As for Iran, we know exactly where they stand, they have been backstabbing us for a while in favor of India, and they are genuinely scared of a strong Pakistan and an allied Afghan government which is anti-Iran. Their games in our region are almost finished and I hope they will correct their behavior.

Neutrality is the best step for Pakistan at this point. As neither KSA nor Iran have cut their trade or relations with India for our sake, we should view them as merely transactional relationships.

It is only Turkey and China who will go against their own interests to help Pakistan again and again. Two countries where Pakistanis are treated respectfully and as human beings in the world.

 

[Reddington]

If their master US is our avowed foe and their new open friend Israel wants our destruction, do you really think they will care what happens to Pakistan?

They will backstab and ditch us for Kuffar at any moment, just like their forefathers did during the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Khilafat.

The era of King Faisal bin AbdulAziz (RA) is over. KSA is an ally, but it is not reliable nor can we expect complete support from them as we can from Turkey and China.

When sanctions were imposed on us by USA after nuclear tests, it was the Saudis that helped us defying USA.
If it wasn't for the Saudis, we would have defaulted atleast half a dozen times since the 90's.

It's funny that people over here say that Saudis betrayed us on FATF blablablabla but at the same time blatantly ignore that China also refused to bail us out when we needed them even when PM IK visited China. It was the Saudis that bailed us out otherwise IMF would have imposed even harsher conditions on our economy than they are now.

Sometimes interests of two countries that are allies do not coincide. That does not mean that those countries are against each other.

Saudi Arabia & China would always always be our friends no matter what.

 

[HAIDER]

How is that possible when you don't speak Arabic? I lived in the US while studying and interacted with Arabs from almost all 20 Arab countries. Students alike and people born and breed in the US. I had interactions with American Latinos, Asian Americans, African-Americans, European Americans etc. as well which is natural as the US is a melting pot. I don't recognize the picture that you are trying to create.

I am very well-versed in the Arab diaspora (I have covered the Arab diaspora in Sub-Saharan Africa, Horn of Africa, South East Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Caucasus, Turkey, Iran and Europe as well as the US on this forum extensively as have many other users). This is not the point of discussion.

We ll discuss later, few surprises for you.

 

[war&peace]

I cannot disagree with anything which you wrote.

Eventually, KSA will have to take more drastic measures against us to stay in US’ good books, but even then, it won’t be enough.

No, on the contrary, going into future Pak-KSA relations will get stronger

Neutrality is the best step for Pakistan at this point. As neither KSA nor Iran have cut their trade or relations with India for our sake, we should view them as merely transactional relationships.

Neutrality is definitely not the best option. You cannot equate KSA relations with India to that of between Iran and India. Iran has been directly involved in terrorism inside Pakistan at the state level while KSA has never done so. KSA India relationship is transactional..there is nothing strategic about it.

 

[Mav3rick]

Why is it hard for people to accept that Saudi Arabia threw Pakistan under the bus at FATF plenary meeting which led to the 'grey listing'. The grey listing is costing Pakistan USD $10 billion per year and a lot more in foreign investment losses. We can thank Turkey for standing with Pakistan.

However, a top official privy to the development confirmed to Dawnthat the US succeeded in calling a second vote on Thursday night for its motion to ‘grey list’ Pakistan at the FATF plenary meeting during which China and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia changed their earlier stance by remaining silent. The only country left opposing the motion was Turkey which was indicated by a statement shared by Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Twitter. “Thank you Turkey for standing with Pakistan against all odds and proving that we are one. We are proud to have a brother like you.”

Source: Dawn​

​

I know very well that it was Saudi Arabia that abandoned us at FATF and I have been saying as much, and it was Saudi decision to abandon us which got us in the grey list and made Saudi Arabia a permanent member of FATF; China withdrew its support because China did not want to lose face while supporting a lost cause after Saudi Arabia abandoned us last time (we needed a minimum of 3 votes to stay out of the Grey listing and we were left with only 2 which were China and Turkey). Turkey stayed with us till the very end .

But that was then and this case of black listing is now. Although we do not need Saudi support at FATF to stay out of the black list, Saudi Arabia neither supported the black listing nor opposed it. Needless to say, Saudi leadership is neither a friend of Pakistan nor a foe, they simply judge us in terms of what they need from us and what we are willing to do for them, however unreasonable their request or expectation be.

Exactly but the fact that KSA had no vote until 24 hours ago is not something that people with an open agenda (propaganda) are incapable of understanding even though it is very simple.

In the real world only KSA, UAE and China (as throughout much of history) came to Pakistan's economic aid (real help) when it mattered.

Saudi Arabia did indeed HAVE a vote, she had the GCC vote before Saudi Arabia was granted a full membership at FATF.

And, in the real world, Saudi Arabia is merely ensuring that we do not actively start siding with our neighbor Iran in her conflicts with Saudi Arabia. The moment we abandon Saudi Arabia, militarily, that is the moment Saudi Arabia becomes an Irani plaything. The reason Saudi Arabia is at rest today is because of Pakistani Nuclear umbrella protecting her from any Nuclear threats. And we have suffered long and endured because of our brotherly love with Saudis and our religious sentiments towards Saudi Arabia.

A few Billions here and there, for parking, and OIL on deferred payments are merely symbolic gestures; we may be moving towards a better relation with the pledge by MBS of Billions in investment in Pakistan but being rich, Saudi Arabia and UAE can do so much more by investing in Pakistan and other Muslim countries instead of investment of Trillions in US.

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

​

I know very well that it was Saudi Arabia that abandoned us at FATF and I have been saying as much, and it was Saudi decision to abandon us which got us in the grey list and made Saudi Arabia a permanent member of FATF; China withdrew its support because China did not want to lose face while supporting a lost cause after Saudi Arabia abandoned us last time (we needed a minimum of 3 votes to stay out of the Grey listing and we were left with only 2 which were China and Turkey). Turkey stayed with us till the very end .

But that was then and this case of black listing is now. Although we do not need Saudi support at FATF to stay out of the black list, Saudi Arabia neither supported the black listing nor opposed it. Needless to say, Saudi leadership is neither a friend of Pakistan nor a foe, they simply judge us in terms of what they need from us and what we are willing to do for them, however unreasonable their request or expectation be.



Saudi Arabia did indeed HAVE a vote, she had the GCC vote before Saudi Arabia was granted a full membership at FATF.

And, in the real world, Saudi Arabia is merely ensuring that we do not actively start siding with our neighbor Iran in her conflicts with Saudi Arabia. The moment we abandon Saudi Arabia, militarily, that is the moment Saudi Arabia becomes an Irani plaything. The reason Saudi Arabia is at rest today is because of Pakistani Nuclear umbrella protecting her from any Nuclear threats. And we have suffered long and endured because of our brotherly love with Saudis and our religious sentiments towards Saudi Arabia.

A few Billions here and there, for parking, and OIL on deferred payments are merely symbolic gestures; we may be moving towards a better relation with the pledge by MBS of Billions in investment in Pakistan but being rich, Saudi Arabia and UAE can do so much more by investing in Pakistan and other Muslim countries instead of investment of Trillions in US.

Repeating the same nonsense lie again and again does not make it true. KSA had no independent vote until Friday. The GCC is composed of 6 sovereign nations. To pretend that KSA had some final say is some kind of bad joke given the FACT that there is currently internal trouble within the GCC thanks to Qatar's ridiculous behavior. Let us forget Qatar for a while go take a look at the close relations of Oman with India under the current clueless and naive Omani Sultan.

You can side with Iran in an imaginary world but that will not change anything fundamentally on the ground. Arabs still outnumber Iranians by a factor of 6-10 on almost every single field. From population, geographic size, natural resources etc. The problem is internal. Divisions within the Arab world and incompetent regimes. If there were sane leaderships and leaderships that reflected the people we would not have the current mess in 4-5 Arab countries (Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Lebanon (Hezbollah)). So let us leave that discussion aside.

As for KSA, we are in the process of building 16 nuclear power plants and guess with who that likely will be? Russia, China, South Korea and maybe the US as well.

Guess who we have worked extremely closely with to create an indigenous ballistic missile program for 30+ years? China.

Who are we working with in the most profitable business in the world (oil) to help regulate that market on a WEEKLY basis? Russia.

Bailing Pakistan out and helping it at EVERY time of need (serious) is "symbolic", ok. With that kind of attitude (that are not representative for 95% of Pakistanis) it is hard to have any sane discussion.

KSA is not investing "trillions of USD" in the West but ALL across the world. Do you even have a clue who our largest trade partner is? Let me give you a hint, it is the most populous country of the world.

As for investing in Pakistan in the past on a wide scale, you are fully aware of the difficulties of doing that and ALSO fully aware that not even many expat Pakistanis are doing that let alone the richest Pakistanis. It is due to a largely ineffective and corrupt system. KSA has tried to kickstart numerous project related to agriculture, petrochemical sector, energy in the past and what I have been told many were almost sabotaged from elements within the Pakistani political spectrum and the rampant corruption. You don't have such problems when investing in say China where there is a strong rule of law and corrupt is combated in extreme ways (death penalty even). It seems that things are moving in the right direction under Imran Khan which is why business relations have expanded and KSA has announced quite a lot of promising JOINT projects inside Pakistan and pledged to invest a large sum of money. Let us hope that it will be different this time around.



Saudi Arabia Obtains Full Membership of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
June 21, 2019
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting, which was concluded on Friday, 21 June 2019, in Orlando, USA, granted the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia full membership of the group. The Kingdom is the first Arab country to obtain membership in FATF. Its accession will be taking place at the next FATF plenary meeting in October 2019.
This membership serves as evidence of the Kingdom's commitment to fighting money laundering and terrorism financing through developing and enhancing its regulatory framework. It comes as a result of the Kingdom’s continuous efforts and initiatives at the local, regional, and international levels in the fight against terrorism-financing, and money laundering.
The FATF agreed to grant the Kingdom observer status in the Group in June 2015, in recognition of the significant role played by the Kingdom in the region in the field of anti-money laundering, and combating financing of terrorism and proliferation.
The Kingdom's accession to the FATF comes following the conclusion of the mutual evaluation process, one of the main requirements for obtaining full membership, which was conducted by the FATF during 2017-2018, in coordination with the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFAT). The findings of the assessment process have revealed the high level of compliance and effectiveness of the Kingdom’s control measures in the areas of AML/CFT.

https://www.saudiembassy.net/news/s...l-membership-financial-action-task-force-fatf

Promoting FDI into Saudi Arabia

BASIL M.K. AL-GHALAYINI
June 22, 2019

The Saudi economy is undergoing dramatic and positive changes, making it an attractive investment destination that provides rich opportunities in various sectors, exceptional resources, enhanced market conditions and pro-business regulations.
The Saudi government has made huge efforts to make it clear that the Kingdom is open for business and wants the world to be involved in the multibillion-dollar transformation underway as part of the Vision 2030 strategy.
The Kingdom has climbed the rankings of international competitiveness and ease of doing business. Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows increased by 127 percent in 2018, and the number of companies entering Saudi Arabia rose by 70 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019.
Since 2016, the government has delivered 45 percent of more than 500 planned reforms, including the introduction of 100 percent foreign ownership rights, enhancing legal infrastructure and offering greater protection for shareholders.
Moreover, the government has introduced several initiatives that act as an international platform for expert-led debate between global leaders, investors and innovators. Last week, the Saudi-Japan Vision 2030 Business Forum took place in Tokyo, and focused on creating investment opportunities in strategic sectors in the Kingdom.
Bringing together experts from many fields demonstrates how Saudi Arabia is becoming more and more pivotal in the global economy beyond oil. As the only G20 member from the Middle East and North Africa, and with an economy that surpassed $782 billion last year, Saudi Arabia represents a tremendous opportunity for investors from around the world.
Recognizing the importance of such initiatives, for more than a decade BMG Financial Group has been organizing an economic forum in the UK as a platform for Saudi and international experts to interact, share experiences and promote investment opportunities available in the Kingdom. The forum plays a crucial role in highlighting Saudi Arabia’s distinctive competitive position. This year, it will be held on July 9 at the London Stock Exchange.
These forums support the Saudi government’s plans to attract more business to the Kingdom, with the opening up of new sectors to foreign investment, the privatization of large parts of the state-dominated economy, and giga-projects underway such as NEOM city, the Red Sea Resort, Al-Qiddiya, and the world-class wellness resort Amaala.
Basil M.K. Al-Ghalayini is the Chairman and CEO of BMG Financial Group.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1514666

 

[The SC]

​

I know very well that it was Saudi Arabia that abandoned us at FATF and I have been saying as much, and it was Saudi decision to abandon us which got us in the grey list and made Saudi Arabia a permanent member of FATF; China withdrew its support because China did not want to lose face while supporting a lost cause after Saudi Arabia abandoned us last time (we needed a minimum of 3 votes to stay out of the Grey listing and we were left with only 2 which were China and Turkey). Turkey stayed with us till the very end .

But that was then and this case of black listing is now. Although we do not need Saudi support at FATF to stay out of the black list, Saudi Arabia neither supported the black listing nor opposed it. Needless to say, Saudi leadership is neither a friend of Pakistan nor a foe, they simply judge us in terms of what they need from us and what we are willing to do for them, however unreasonable their request or expectation be.



Saudi Arabia did indeed HAVE a vote, she had the GCC vote before Saudi Arabia was granted a full membership at FATF.

And, in the real world, Saudi Arabia is merely ensuring that we do not actively start siding with our neighbor Iran in her conflicts with Saudi Arabia. The moment we abandon Saudi Arabia, militarily, that is the moment Saudi Arabia becomes an Irani plaything. The reason Saudi Arabia is at rest today is because of Pakistani Nuclear umbrella protecting her from any Nuclear threats. And we have suffered long and endured because of our brotherly love with Saudis and our religious sentiments towards Saudi Arabia.

A few Billions here and there, for parking, and OIL on deferred payments are merely symbolic gestures; we may be moving towards a better relation with the pledge by MBS of Billions in investment in Pakistan but being rich, Saudi Arabia and UAE can do so much more by investing in Pakistan and other Muslim countries instead of investment of Trillions in US.

A few billions here and there!? That amounts to more than 100s of billions over time in support of Pakistan..That is the most extensive support by KSA to any other Muslim or not country..and you are still crying.. asking Saudi Arabia to totally forget its own interests and invest everything in your ungrateful kinds.. Unlike you.. Pakistan has a deep state that understands and knows better..

 

[Metanoia]

A few billions here and there!? That amounts to more than 100s of billions over time in support of Pakistan..That is the most extensive support by KSA to any other Muslim or not country..and you are still crying.. asking Saudi Arabia to totally forget its own interests and invest everything in your ungrateful kinds.. Unlike you.. Pakistan has a deep state that understands and knows better..

It's better that KSA should have invested this kind of money in Vietnam or Thailand. Such countries would have better made use of the money for development instead of blatant wastage and corruption.

 

[Reddington]

A few billions here and there!? That amounts to more than 100s of billions over time in support of Pakistan..That is the most extensive support by KSA to any other Muslim or not country..and you are still crying.. asking Saudi Arabia to totally forget its own interests and invest everything in your ungrateful kinds.. Unlike you.. Pakistan has a deep state that understands and knows better..

These people are blinded by sectarianism who see everything through their sectarian prism. Their loyalty lies to foreign countries. Don't feed such trolls.

 

[Mav3rick]

A few billions here and there!? That amounts to more than 100s of billions over time in support of Pakistan..That is the most extensive support by KSA to any other Muslim or not country..and you are still crying.. asking Saudi Arabia to totally forget its own interests and invest everything in your ungrateful kinds.. Unlike you.. Pakistan has a deep state that understands and knows better..

You must be very very naive to believe that Saudi has given us 100's of Billions over time. Very very naive. I was a bit upset with your choice of words but then got over it because I realized how ignorant your kind is, any financial assistance that Saudi Arabia has given, lately, has been to buy goodwill and influence in Pakistan. Not to forget, their ethnic war with Iran in Pakistan has caused us Billions in return.

Let me start with the period when Pakistan and India were still a united Bharat and we used to travel to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage; our ancestors were the lifeline of Saudi's back in the day, we were generous and we were always willing to help Saudi's who had not yet discovered oil and were extremely poor. Our ancestors left behind food, clothing, money and other forms of alms and charity for Saudis. Coming back to the period after independence of Pakistan, we enjoyed superb relations with Saudi Arabia especially under Shah Fahad, Shah Faisal and their predecessors. We deployed troops to defend Saudi Arabia at various instances such as siege of Kaba and during Persian Gulf war, it is widely believe that a contingent of SSG commandos is always deployed for the protection of Saudi monarchy and we have pledged to defend Saudi Arabia at all cost.

Our support to Saudi Arabia in building up and development of their Military and Air Force is extraordinary, we not only setup their forces but also actively participated against threats to Saudi Arabia, this goes on to the extreme where Saudi Arabia was offended when we refused to be engaged in Saudi aggression in Yemen, because Saudi's considered us their ******* which would attack whomever Saudia wanted to attack.

Saudi involvement and assistance in Afghan matters and funding of Talibaan, their involvement in funding of seminaries in Pakistan was/is also for influence. This is the sort of influence that also allows Saudi Princes to come to Pakistan under military security for hunting 2 times a year, each year which means more to them than most other things. At the end of the day, the relation is beneficial both ways, it is not as if Saudi Arabia is going the extra mile. You can check Saudi relations with India and compare their relations with Pakistan and then decide.

let me end my post with a simple reminder that the current leadership in Saudia awarded the country's highest award to enemy of Islam and Muslims, Indian PM Modi; and a question to you and all your kind, why did Saudi Arab abandon us at FATF where we ended up in the Grey Listing and by virtue losing around USD 10 Billion a year, as is stated by some other members of the Forum? Do you think it is fair of them to cost us USD 10 Billion per year and balance it by parking 3 Billion in our account which we cannot use???

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

You must be very very naive to believe that Saudi has given us 100's of Billions over time. Very very naive. I was a bit upset with your choice of words but then got over it because I realized how ignorant your kind is, any financial assistance that Saudi Arabia has given, lately, has been to buy goodwill and influence in Pakistan. Not to forget, their ethnic war with Iran in Pakistan has caused us Billions in return.

Let me start with the period when Pakistan and India were still a united Bharat and we used to travel to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage; our ancestors were the lifeline of Saudi's back in the day, we were generous and we were always willing to help Saudi's who had not yet discovered oil and were extremely poor. Our ancestors left behind food, clothing, money and other forms of alms and charity for Saudis. Coming back to the period after independence of Pakistan, we enjoyed superb relations with Saudi Arabia especially under Shah Fahad, Shah Faisal and their predecessors. We deployed troops to defend Saudi Arabia at various instances such as siege of Kaba and during Persian Gulf war, it is widely believe that a contingent of SSG commandos is always deployed for the protection of Saudi monarchy and we have pledged to defend Saudi Arabia at all cost.

Our support to Saudi Arabia in building up and development of their Military and Air Force is extraordinary, we not only setup their forces but also actively participated against threats to Saudi Arabia, this goes on to the extreme where Saudi Arabia was offended when we refused to be engaged in Saudi aggression in Yemen, because Saudi's considered us their ******* which would attack whomever Saudia wanted to attack.

Saudi involvement and assistance in Afghan matters and funding of Talibaan, their involvement in funding of seminaries in Pakistan was/is also for influence. This is the sort of influence that also allows Saudi Princes to come to Pakistan under military security for hunting 2 times a year, each year which means more to them than most other things. At the end of the day, the relation is beneficial both ways, it is not as if Saudi Arabia is going the extra mile. You can check Saudi relations with India and compare their relations with Pakistan and then decide.

let me end my post with a simple reminder that the current leadership in Saudia awarded the country's highest award to enemy of Islam and Muslims, Indian PM Modi; and a question to you and all your kind, why did Saudi Arab abandon us at FATF where we ended up in the Grey Listing and by virtue losing around USD 10 Billion a year, as is stated by some other members of the Forum? Do you think it is fair of them to cost us USD 10 Billion per year and balance it by parking 3 Billion in our account which we cannot use???

Speaking about naive you must be incredibly naive to believe even 1 % of the nonsense that you have written in your most recent post. I understand that this is a Pakistani forum but there must be limits to the nonsense.

Speaking about ignorance, last time I checked the average Saudi Arabian is much more educated than the average Pakistani (objective fact) not to mention that almost half of Pakistanis cannot even read or write while the literacy rate in KSA is one of the highest in the world and is approaching 98%.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate

Not even going to talk about the accomplishments of Arabs in all fields and walks of life throughout recorded history. Fair to say that we have been one of the most accomplished and influential people in recorded history. Which is common knowledge.

Your ignorant comment was totally uncalled for but shows your kinds mentality like @Reddington accurately wrote.

More nonsense. Arabia has since recorded time began been one of the most wealthy regions of the world in terms of natural resources, minerals and everything else. Not to mention that Arabs controlled the major trade routes of the ancient world for millennia. Not to mention some of the oldest recorded civilizations in the world and the oldest recorded human presence outside of Africa. Hijaz in particular was always a wealthy and prosperous region. So your fairytale is what it is.

What building up of military other than some training (Pakistanis have trained at Arab academies as well and mutually)? The people who have had the greatest impact on the modern-day army of KSA are no other than the same West than helped construct your very own military.

I want to remind you of the fact that KSA's air force predates Pakistan with 30 years and already in the 1930's we had dealings and training with the powers of the world.

As this 80+ year old photo clearly demonstrates:

"The Saudi pilots training in Italy 1935"—a scene from 'Our Eagles', one of four video wall shows made for the Royal Saudi Air Force Museum.

Your lot (tiny minority of Pakistanis with a certain allegiance) are still blabbering about the Yemen intervention although it occurred 4.5 years ago and KSA (the state let alone the people) forgot about your refusal within days or at most weeks. You don't even have a clue what it was about. It was about sending a small number of experienced advisers and soldiers in mountain warfare. Luckily this refusal was in hindsight a great thing as it gave rise to our own experienced corps of soldiers in this kind of warfare (mountainous) and 85% of Yemen being under our control and that of the Arab coalition and legitimate Yemeni government is a testament of that after the Houthis terrorist cult overran practically all of Yemen prior to our intervention.

Still blabbering about some "abandonment" (while just hailing Pakistan's choice not to help a long-time tested ally in Yemen) all while (for the billionth time) KSA had no independent vote until this Friday?

The Pakistani brothers on this plenty (plenty) have already explained everything as well so no need to repeat myself dealing with your biased and deluded anti-Arab lot.

It's better that KSA should have invested this kind of money in Vietnam or Thailand. Such countries would have better made use of the money for development instead of blatant wastage and corruption.

How are you doing mate? Is it the same Metanoia of old? How are you doing? Back for a while after an almost 1 year long break.

To answer your post, maybe, if Pakistan was made up of a certain lot (came alive in this thread) but that is luckily not the case. Not only that due to geographic, historical, cultural, religious, linguistic, ancestral etc. reasons Pakistan is much, much less foreign to Arabs than countries like Vietnam and Thailand far away although Arabs (in the past) had trade ties with those regions as well and even settled in what is modern-day Southern Thailand. Not sure if those 2 countries are as corrupt free as you think they are. Thailand is quite corrupt for instance.

 

[Metanoia]

How are you doing mate? Is it the same Metanoia of old? How are you doing? Back for a while after an almost 1 year long break.

To answer your post, maybe, if Pakistan was made up of a certain lot (came alive in this thread) but that is luckily not the case. Not only that due to geographic, historical, cultural, religious, linguistic, ancestral etc. reasons Pakistan is much, much less foreign to Arabs than countries like Vietnam and Thailand far away although Arabs (in the past) had trade ties with those regions as well and even settled in what is modern-day Southern Thailand. Not sure if those 2 countries are as corrupt free as you think they are. Thailand is quite corrupt for instance.

7ala 7abib, yes it's the same old Metanoia. Kaif a5barik?

Thailand is corrupt, no doubt, but having been there and all....it's much better than Pakistan. I mean you have Pakistanis living there illegally and some even seeking asylum due to the conditions back home. Fact of the matter is that Pakistan, unfortunately, is a bad investment overall. Even with all the help, donations, loans, and whatnot, this country has failed to take-off and has only deteriorated.

Speaking of Southern Thailand, I was there recently and drove through the provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, as well as Songkla. Then went on to drive all the way to Phuket. Amazing country and beautiful people.

 

[ArabianEmpires&Caliphates]

7ala 7abib, yes it's the same old Metanoia. Kaif a5barik?

Thailand is corrupt, no doubt, but having been there and all....it's much better than Pakistan. I mean you have Pakistanis living there illegally and some even seeking asylum due to the conditions back home. Fact of the matter is that Pakistan, unfortunately, is a bad investment overall. Even with all the help, donations, loans, and whatnot, this country has failed to take-off and has only deteriorated.

Speaking of Southern Thailand, I was there recently and drove through the provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, as well as Songkla. Then went on to drive all the way to Phuket. Amazing country and beautiful people.

Everything good here. Still based in Europe and gaining valuable work experience. Still hellbent on doing everything on my own as much as possible despite constant crying from the family of "help". No fun or challenge using such a tactic even more so when you want to be 100% independent.

Don't be too harsh brother. Pakistan has its important struggles and in my mind needs to rediscover itself (IMO) but similar problems are rampant in the Arab world as well (sadly) and even in KSA things (albeit I will not complain as that would selfish and ungrateful) can and should get better on numerous fronts.

You are probably well aware of KSA-Thailand ties, lol, after that event involving those diamonds etc. A bit of a shame as I have heard that Thailand is very beautiful indeed and there is the Muslim South that we Arabs have had long-term ties with in the past. Having visited Malaysia and Indonesia, I imagine that there must be a lot of similarity weather, cuisine and landscape wise. Did you prefer Thailand over Malaysia?

INteresting. Would love to visit. watched that half Chinese/Half American Youtuber (the one with the many views and funny faces when eating food from across the world) and he is based in Bangkok and I once saw a video where he visited the Muslim South. The cuisine looked absolutely amazing.

BTW, as always I am hoping (as usual) that relations of countries could reflect the people. I honestly believe that without corruption etc. and if the Saudi Arabian and Pakistani people only had a say, that relations would be even much, much closer, more dynamic and even more meaningful.

I might be ignorant here (correct me please) but I like what I have seen from Imran Khan so far and hopefully he can change the Pakistani system from within and fulfill the great potential.

 

[Metanoia]

Everything good here. Still based in Europe and gaining valuable work experience. Still hellbent on doing everything on my own as much as possible despite constant crying from the family of "help". No fun or challenge using such a tactic even more so when you want to be 100% independent.

Don't be too harsh brother. Pakistan has its important struggles and in my mind needs to rediscover itself (IMO) but similar problems are rampant in the Arab world as well (sadly) and even in KSA things (albeit I will not complain as that would selfish and ungrateful) can and should get better on numerous fronts.

You are probably well aware of KSA-Thailand ties, lol, after that event involving those diamonds etc. A bit of a shame as I have heard that Thailand is very beautiful indeed and there is the Muslim South that we Arabs have had long-term ties with in the past. Having visited Malaysia and Indonesia, I imagine that there must be a lot of similarity weather, cuisine and landscape wise. Did you prefer Thailand over Malaysia?

INteresting. Would love to visit. watched that half Chinese/Half American Youtuber (the one with the many views and funny faces when eating food from across the world) and he is based in Bangkok and I once saw a video where he visited the Muslim South. The cuisine looked absolutely amazing.

BTW, as always I am hoping (as usual) that relations of countries could reflect the people. I honestly believe that without corruption etc. and if the Saudi Arabian and Pakistani people only had a say, that relations would be even much, much closer, more dynamic and even more meaningful.

I might be ignorant here (correct me please) but I like what I have seen from Imran Khan so far and hopefully he can change the Pakistani system from within and fulfill the great potential.

Wallah I'll get back to this post of yours....I am munching on some tandoori at the moment lol

 

[zulu]

Thank you for your kind words hopefully we do it soon as far as Imran Khan concern like u i m hopeful at least that guy is trying and honest unlike previous ones.Allah give him success

Don't be too harsh brother. Pakistan has its important struggles and in my mind needs to rediscover itself