Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday addressed one of the most credentialed gatherings of Pakistani-American business leaders— twenty entrepreneurs, technologists and financiers, more than a third of them former Fortune 500 executives — and invited them to bring their capital, networks and expertise to Pakistan.
Addressing the gathering, the Minister said Pakistan stands at a defining moment in its history, where recent gains in national security, diplomacy and macroeconomic stability must now be translated into sustained economic growth.
"Pakistanis abroad remain deeply connected to their homeland, and the Pakistani-American community in particular has distinguished itself across every field — from technology and finance to healthcare, energy and academia," the Minister said. "After the difficult but necessary reforms undertaken under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the country has restored macroeconomic stability, brought inflation down, eased policy rates, and earned international recognition as one of the world's leading economic turnaround stories. The vision is there. The economy has been rebuilt. What we need now is your capital, your networks and your expertise."
The Minister emphasised that Pakistan's constructive role in promoting regional peace has strengthened investor confidence and created new opportunities for trade and international partnerships, and that the time is right for overseas Pakistanis to include Pakistan in their professional and investment portfolios.
Most members of the delegation are already involved in multiple investments and philanthropic efforts in Pakistan, and the engagement was designed to deepen that ongoing relationship into a structured partnership around the government's URAAN-Pakistan economic agenda.
Iqbal used the session to lay out the URAAN-Pakistan target of a $1 trillion economy by 2035 and a $3 trillion economy by 2047, anchored to the 5Es framework: Exports, E-Pakistan, Environment and Climate Change, Energy and Infrastructure, and Equity and Empowerment. He named information technology, agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, mining and minerals, the blue economy, skilled manpower and creative industries as priority export sectors.
The Minister assured the diaspora that the government is committed to creating an enabling environment for investment and entrepreneurship, and expressed confidence that with the active participation of overseas Pakistanis, Pakistan can achieve its economic ambitions and emerge as a globally competitive, knowledge-based economy.
The Minister reaffirmed the government's commitment to strengthening Pakistan's knowledge economy through deeper engagement with the Pakistani-American academic and research community, including through partnerships with the University of Illinois Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, and the wider US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor. He also highlighted ongoing work to engage overseas Pakistani experts in support of Pakistan's AI readiness and technological transformation.
Earlier, the Minister also held three separate meetings with the University of Chicago. The following was discussed and agreed:
1. With Prof. Madhav Rajan and Prof. Katie Hiranyak — public-policy and public-sector transformation. The Minister noted that Pakistan's regional education rankings remain among the lowest in South Asia, and that building human capital is the government's top priority. He said that retraining the federal and provincial civil services is essential to overcoming the "internal inertia and lethargy" that prevents the government's policy vision from reaching delivery. The two sides agreed to:
• a hybrid programme under which Pakistani students will undertake coursework in Chicago and complete research in Pakistan; and
• a public-sector transformation programme to be designed jointly by the University of Chicago's public-policy school and business school for Pakistani civil servants, embedding modern science, technology and contemporary skill sets so that the workforce can plug into global markets and practices.
2. With Dr Christina Brown, Development Economist, and Mr Zohaib Hassan, Research Director (University of Chicago, Economics) — curriculum reform with PIDE. The two sides agreed to work with the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), the federal government's own think tank, on a fundamental review of school and university curricula. The brief is to "break Pakistan's education free of colonial roots" — in particular, the inherited fixation on English as the sole medium of instruction, which the participants argued results in elite capture and excludes most students from genuinely engaging with content in a language they understand.
4. With Mr Sam Ori, Executive Director, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth — climate resilience. The Minister opened the meeting by noting that Pakistan is the world's seventh-most climate-vulnerable country despite contributing negligibly to global emissions, and that the 2022 floods remain the country's most expensive climate disaster. The two sides agreed to:
• deepen ongoing collaboration on emissions trading — already underway with the Punjab government — and on a federal electricity-tariff study aimed at energy inclusion;
• a new MOU with PIDE to extend this work; and
• training in weather forecasting to strengthen Pakistan's early-warning systems.
The Minister's engagements in Chicago concluded with all parties reaffirming their commitment to translating the shared vision of economic cooperation, regional connectivity, climate resilience and human-capital development into tangible outcomes.
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PRESS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT
GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN
ISLAMABAD
