Pakistan Eyes Investment Boost as US-Based Business Tycoons Meet Shehbaz

NEW YORK: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif urged Pakistani business tycoons and professionals based in the United States on Thursday to invest in Pakistan, telling delegations from the IT, artificial intelligence, automobile, energy and construction sectors that the government now offers a smoother path for capital and business activity.

Sharif met the delegations separately in back-to-back sessions. He called the visitors Pakistan's ambassadors, arguing their standing abroad already shapes global perceptions of the country and that this goodwill should now translate into direct investment at home.

Tax reform anchored his pitch. Sharif credited recent changes at the Federal Board of Revenue with resolving longstanding complaints from the business community, describing an institution long seen as an investment obstacle as newly cooperative.

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He also raised agriculture, a sector rarely on the radar for tech investors. Sharif told the delegations his government is prioritizing innovation in farming and framed it as fresh ground for the same AI and IT expertise the room specializes in.

The delegations responded with praise rather than pushback. Representatives commended reforms across agriculture, industry and exports, and singled out the FBR overhaul again as a standout achievement.

Senior officials filled out the meetings. Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, chairman of the Prime Minister's Youth Programme, attended alongside Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Bilal Bin Saqib, Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, and Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Rizwan Ahmed Sheikh. The prime minister's spokesperson for foreign media, Musharraf Zaidi, also attended, along with Overseas Pakistanis Foundation Chairman Syed Qamar Raza and the foundation's managing director, Afzaal Bhatti.

The outreach comes as Pakistan continues to lean on diaspora capital to offset thin foreign reserves and a currency that has weakened repeatedly in recent years. Diaspora investment has traditionally flowed into real estate and retail. Targeting AI and IT professionals specifically signals an attempt to draw knowledge-economy capital into supply chains rather than property.

Whether Thursday's meetings produce firm commitments remains uncertain. Diaspora business leaders frequently offer supportive remarks at such gatherings, but registered investment, new factories or technology hubs on Pakistani soil follow far less often. The government is betting that the FBR reforms, now felt rather than only announced, will change that pattern this time.

Sharif made his case directly to the audience best positioned to either reinforce or undercut Pakistan's investment narrative abroad betting that a mix of recognition and tax reform will finally turn goodwill into capital.