Ottawa (TDI): Islamabad and Ottawa have reopened negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty, with a senior Pakistani delegation traveling to Canada this week to advance a deal central to deepening economic ties.
The delegation, led by Zulfiqar Ali, Additional Secretary at Pakistan’s Board of Investment, arrived in Ottawa for the latest round of talks on the draft Pakistan-Canada Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement, also referred to as a Bilateral Investment Treaty (FIPPA/BIT).
The Pakistani team includes senior officials drawn from departments overseeing trade, investment, and broader economic affairs.
The opening session was addressed by Jean Christian Brillant, Director General of the South Asia Bureau at Global Affairs Canada, who welcomed the visiting delegation and expressed hope for productive and constructive discussions over the course of the talks.
Speaking at the proceedings, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Canada, Muhammad Saleem, said both countries remained committed to concluding a high-quality investment framework.
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He pointed to a series of reforms undertaken by Islamabad in recent years aimed at improving the ease of doing business for foreign investors.
The reforms include stronger investor protections, more transparent mechanisms for preventing disputes before they escalate, and efforts to bring greater coherence to regulatory processes. These measures, he said, form key pillars of Pakistan’s wider economic reform agenda.
Officials on both sides framed the negotiations as part of a broader push to strengthen economic, trade, and investment cooperation between the two countries.
A finalized FIPPA/BIT would establish clearer legal protections for investors operating across borders, a feature seen as important for attracting capital into Pakistan’s economy as it works to rebuild investor confidence following a period of macroeconomic strain.
This is not the first time the two sides have sat down to negotiate the treaty’s terms. The previous round of talks took place in Islamabad in October 2025, suggesting the current Ottawa session is a continuation of an ongoing process rather than a fresh start.
Neither side has indicated a timeline for concluding the agreement, and treaties of this kind often involve multiple rounds of negotiation before reaching final text.
