Oman's foreign minister in Pakistan on 13 and 14 October for Joint Ministerial Commission

Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi arrives in Pakistan on Tuesday 13 October for a two-day official visit, and will co-chair the 8th session of the Pakistan-Oman Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in Islamabad with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, the Foreign Office announced on Monday, Dawn reported. Albusaidi is also expected to call on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The visit runs to Wednesday 14 October.

It is one of two ministerial visits to Islamabad this week: Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev landed on Monday for four days of talks, the first visit to Pakistan by a Russian interior minister.

Pakistan-Oman JMC: what is on the table

The Foreign Office called the JMC an "important platform to review the entire spectrum" of relations. According to Radio Pakistan, as cited by Dawn, the agenda covers:

• Money and trade: trade, investment, industry, agriculture and finance.
• Energy: oil and gas.
• People: labour and consular affairs, the items that matter most to Pakistanis working in Oman.
• Security: security and defence.
• Everything else: climate change, civil aviation, education, media and culture.

Dar chaired an inter-ministerial meeting on Saturday 10 October to go over the agenda, the agreements under discussion and the co-chairing arrangements, and told ministries to "secure tangible outcomes". The Foreign Office has not listed the agreements expected to be signed; we will add them when the session ends.

Why it matters for families here

Oman sits across the Arabian Sea and is one of the Gulf states where Pakistanis go to work. Labour and consular affairs on the agenda means the commission can take up questions about work, documents and the treatment of workers. If you have family working in Oman, compare the cost of sending money home with our guide to the cheapest way to send money to Pakistan, and check the rupee's rate against Gulf currencies on our UAE dirham and Saudi riyal data pages.

Russian interior minister's first visit to Pakistan

Vladimir Kolokoltsev arrived in Islamabad on Monday 12 October at the invitation of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, and was received by Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, The Express Tribune reported, citing the Interior Ministry's post on X. The ministry said he will hold important meetings with Pakistan's leadership on bilateral relations and cooperation; it did not name the officials or say whether any agreement will be signed, and Business Recorder also reported no specific areas.

The visit comes a week after the Moscow Format meeting on Afghanistan on 5 October, where, the Tribune reported, a dispute between the Pakistani and Afghan delegations meant no final document was adopted, according to Russia's envoy Zamir Kabulov. Russia formally recognised the Taliban administration in 2025, and the Tribune contrasted that with Pakistan's emphasis on the Taliban's links to militant groups operating against Pakistan, the backdrop to this week's interior ministers' talks.