Saudi Arabia's ambassador-designate to Pakistan, Dr Rajeh bin Tami Al-Baqami, will assume his assignment in Islamabad early next week, diplomatic sources said. Highly placed diplomatic sources said the new Saudi envoy, who has extensive experience in military and diplomatic affairs, was taking up his ambassadorial responsibilities with a mandate to further strengthen and expand ties between the two brotherly countries.

Dr Al-Baqami took the oath of office in Jeddah last month before Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, succeeding Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, who has concluded his nearly nine-year tenure and returned to Riyadh. A retired senior major general with a long career in the Saudi military, Dr Al-Baqami holds a doctorate in Human Resource Management from Brunel University London. He later joined the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the rank of ambassador before being appointed to head the Kingdom's diplomatic mission in Islamabad.

His appointment comes as Islamabad and Riyadh continue to deepen their strategic, economic and defence cooperation amid heightened regional security concerns and instability in the Middle East. The new envoy will assume office less than a year after Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement under which aggression against either country would be treated as an attack against both, formalising decades of defence cooperation between the two allies.

Earlier this month, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye also signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, establishing a trilateral defence framework under which an armed attack on any one member would be treated as an attack on all three. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have also significantly expanded economic cooperation, with Riyadh pledging substantial investments in Pakistan under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 initiative.