Daily Times

“Don’t underestimate Pakistan. It is a country with a future. We are fast moving to becomes the next tech hub of the region,” said Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sardar Muhammad Masood Khan. “There has been exponential growth in our tech industry in past few years. Our economy is being digitized and we have unleashed a series of reforms not only to facilitate businesses but also to make them hugely profitable,” he continued. “We will succeed because of our national determination; the support from Pakistani diaspora and the backing from our friends like the United States,” he added.

Ambassador Masood Khan made these remarks while talking to US business leaders, entrepreneurs, bankers and professionals from Los Angeles during his series of interactions with business community and their leaders. Talking to President Los Angeles Area Chambers Ms. Maria S. Salinas, Ambassador Masood Khan highlighted that Pakistan was already hosting some eighty American enterprises, mostly Fortune 500, that included Pepsi, Coco-Cola, General Electric, Abbot, Proctor and Gamble, Pfizer, Honeywell, Oracle, Microsoft, Dell, IBM, Caterpillar, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Domino’s Pizza. “They find our market rewarding,” he observed. “We want US companies to scale up their investments in Pakistan,” said the Ambassador.

LA Area chamber is the biggest chamber of commerce in California. The Chamber has been a champion for the business community for 136 years now and has more than 1400 companies as members across 35 sectors. Highlighting multi-billions Gulf investment in Pakistan, the Ambassador invited US business community to join hands with Gulf nations and form trilateral partnership for fully reaping dividends being offered by Pak economy. Inviting President LA Area Chambers of Commerce to visit Pakistan and also to encourage US business leaders, the Ambassador observed that positive perception after their visit will build confidence.

The Ambassador also proposed sister city partnership between Los Angeles and Karachi to provide a framework for enhanced economic interactions. Highlighting presence of 150,000 Pakistani American community in LA, Masood Khan observed that it was a strong foundation to further build on bilateral relations. The two sides agreed to work closely towards industry specific cooperation to enhance trade and business interactions. During meeting with Board members and entrepreneurs from the Pakistan American Chamber of Commerce (PACC) led by Chairman PACC, Waqar Ali Khan, Ambassador Masood Khan highlighted the role of Pakistani American businessmen and investors in various sectors including hospitality, hotels, hospitals, telephony, medical transcription and billing, diagnostics, fin-tech, health tech, and telemedicine. “Pakistan values the contribution of the one million-strong Pakistani American community, which is a bridge between the two countries. They have invested heavily in Pakistan in various businesses and sectors and can help foster more collaboration and partnership”, he added.

During his interaction with Pak-American and US business leaders, entrepreneurs, bankers, professionals, and officials at the Consulate General of Pakistan in Los Angeles, Masood Khan reiterated that relationship between Pakistan and United States had resilient foundations. “We want to scale up our trade and investment ties besides our ongoing cooperation in security and counter-terrorism,” he said. “We are in dialogue processes with the United States on climate change, renewable and green energy, healthcare, education and technology. These are our priority areas,” he said. Masood Khan said that international financial institutions including IMF were supportive of Pakistan’s economic reform agenda and the new government has owned reform package being pursued by the interim government. “This has built confidence within the IFIs,” he observed. The Ambassador during the meeting called upon US enterprises to diversify their product lines so that they could export their products to gulf and other regions.During his series of meetings, Masood Khan highlighted the role that SIFC was playing to facilitate business community, spark investments and promote economic growth. He highlighted that the Government of Pakistan has prioritized IT, agriculture, energy and extractive industry and every possible facilitation was being provided to the investors in those areas.

Addressing a large gathering of Pakistani Americans in California, organized by Friends of Pakistan (FOP) President Jamal Khawaja, Chairman Arif Mansuri and Board FOP, the Ambassador thanked FOP for its hospitality and organizing the meeting. He said that he was delighted to see exemplary spirit of unity & harmony among diaspora and their passion and commitment for Pakistan, the U.S. and Pak-US relations.