Islamabad (TDI): Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan invited envoys from ASEAN states to invest in the country’s special economic zones (SEZs) created under the China‑Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), in a meeting on Tuesday.
Addressing envoys from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam and Myanmar, Khan reaffirmed Pakistan’s resolve to expand trade, investment and people‑to‑people connections with Southeast Asia.
He urged investors to not just export into Pakistan, but to bring value‑adding operations into the SEZs and then re‑export to other markets, turning Pakistan into a regional manufacturing and trade hub.
Khan emphasized that Pakistan has improved macroeconomic fundamentals, with inflation currently in single digits, and painted a favorable business climate.
He framed the appeal within Pakistan’s strategic role; leveraging its geography and the extensive CPEC infrastructure to become a bridge between Asia, the Middle East and beyond.
ASEAN envoy welcomed the outreach, noting “great potential” in deeper commercial cooperation.
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In a formal statement issues by the Commerce Ministry, the meeting was described as a renewed push to embed the country more strongly in the ASEAN economic landscape, with plans under way to devise a roadmap for expanded trade, investment and institutional cooperation in the coming months.
This initiative comes as Pakistan is actively seeking stability following macroeconomic challenges. The country is currently supported by a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program, and is making concerted efforts to attract foreign capital.
The SEZs under CPEC, an ambitious $65 billion infrastructure and connectivity framework, remain central to Islamabad’s growth strategy.
But for Pakistan to fully benefit, it must not merely host factories; it must attract higher value industries, enhance technology transfer, and cultivate a skilled workforce.
Khan underlined this, saying Pakistan aims to raise value addition in agriculture and other sectors to capture its “true potential.”
ASEAN’s economies are among the world’s fastest growing, and yet economic potential between these countries and Pakistan has not been capitalized upon.
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