IT potential showcased at US investment conference
The embassy of Pakistan in Washington DC on Friday hosted the final sequel of "Pakistan-US Tech Investment Conference 2025," drawing a significant turnout of information technology firms, tech executives, business leaders and entrepreneurs.
The day-long event capped the series with earlier sessions in Dallas, Texas and New York City last week, geared towards highlighting Pakistan's growing potential in the IT sector, which was poised to attract foreign investment.
The conference was a collaborative effort from the embassy of Pakistan, Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) under the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication, the Ministry of Commerce (through its trade officers), P@SHA (Pakistan's sole trade association for IT and IT-enabled services) and The Organisation of Pakistani Entrepreneurs (OPEN) Global.
In his opening remarks, Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Rizwan Saeed Sheikh underscored that the conference was a testament to Pakistan's IT potential and its future ambitions.
"The IT sector is the most promising in terms of growth and development. Pakistan is only beginning to unfold its IT potential," the ambassador stated. He highlighted Pakistan's unique position, saying, "Our geography lends us both geopolitical and geo-economic significance and our country has prospered over the past 78 years despite various challenges."
Highlighting prospects of collaboration with the US, Sheikh stressed the importance of Pakistan's young, talented population and the profitability of its market for US investors.
"Pakistan's IT market offers profit to investors. With a thriving 65% young population below the age of 30, Pakistan and the US have every reason to collaborate in the most futuristic domain, ie, IT. Let's come together as two mega countries and make it happen for the benefit of the whole world," he remarked.
The envoy announced an upcoming video series designed to share success stories of Pakistani tech entrepreneurs, aiming to inspire the nation's youth to pursue their dreams in the startup ecosystem. "Pakistan's youth are talented and adept at nurturing startups. They need US mentoring, advisory support and financing for commercial viability of their products," he noted.
The conference also featured remarks from Abu Bakar, CEO of PSEB, Sajjad Syed, Chairman of Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), Tariq Khan, President of OPEN Global and Naveed Shirwani.
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