Business delegation to visit US in August

New council set up to ramp up trade, investment, private-sector linkages

ISLAMABAD:

Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Atif Ikram Sheikh will lead a business delegation to the United States in August this year. Under the FPCCI, the Pakistan-USA Business Council has been formally established to institutionalise and expand bilateral trade, investment, and private-sector cooperation between Pakistan and the United States.

The first meeting of the business council was held at the FPCCI president's office in Islamabad. The meeting was convened by Malik Sohail Hussain, Chairman of the Pakistan-USA Business Council. It was attended by representatives of the US Embassy in Islamabad, including Jay Kim and Ayan Ali Khan from the Economic and Trade Section.

In his welcome address, Sohail Hussain stated that the establishment of the council marks an important step towards strengthening structured economic engagement between Pakistan and the US.

He mentioned that the US remains one of Pakistan's most important trading partners and a key source of investment, innovation, and technology transfer, while Pakistan offers significant opportunities in IT, textiles, agriculture, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, minerals, and entrepreneurship.

"The Pakistan-USA Business Council is being developed as a structured institutional platform to deepen trade linkages, facilitate investment flows, and enable sustained private-sector engagement between both countries," Hussain said.

Karim Aziz Malik, Chairman of the President Secretariat, was co-opted onto the board of directors of the council.

During the meeting, participants discussed expansion of trade and investment opportunities, exchange of business delegations, and the organisation of joint networking events in Pakistan and the US. The council underscored the need for business-to-business (B2B) engagement and policy facilitation to enhance commercial cooperation.