SLAMABAD:Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday ahead of the crucial trip by Prime Minister Imran Khan to Saudi Arabia later this week.The army chief was received by Pakistan’s recently-appointed Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Lt-Gen (retd) Bilal Akbar and Saudi military officials. He will meet Saudi civil and military leadership in what seems to be part of the preparation of the prime minister's scheduled to take place on May 7.

The visit of army chief and upcoming trip by the premier is seen as significant as these developments suggest a thaw in ties between the two countries.

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The resumption of high level visits comes against the backdrop of quiet efforts by two sides to remove hiccup in their ties. The hectic behind the scene efforts finally led to a telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Imran and Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman in March. This was the first contact between the two leaders in 15 months.

Prior to the telephonic conversation, foreign ministers of the two countries also spoke to lay the ground for the prime minister’s visit.Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have enjoyed longstanding strategic relationship, which in recent years met with certain road blocks. The first real test of their ties came in 2015 when Pakistan refused to send troops to join the Saudi led military campaign in Yemen. The relationship returned to some normalcy after Pakistan joined the Saudi led Islamic military alliance against terrorism and sent former army chief General (retd) Raheel Sharif to attend the group.

When Prime Minister Imran took charge in August 2018, Saudi Arabia extended $6 billion financial package to Pakistan to shore up its depleting foreign reserves.However, ties between the two countries suffered another blow after Pakistan first decided to attend a conference of Saudi Arabia's rivals in Kaula Lampur. Islamabad had to withdraw from the summit after Riyadh warned of serious consequences.