ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a leading Malaysian venture capital group on Tuesday Pakistan and Malaysia were working to strengthen business-to-business links, with his administration pledging to make it easier to invest and operate in the country, particularly in the digital economy.
Sharif made the remarks during a meeting in Kuala Lumpur with Gobi Partners, a Malaysia-based firm that invests across Asia’s emerging markets. He welcomed the firm’s interest in Pakistan’s startup ecosystem and said the government was committed to improving the ease of doing business and supporting early-stage investors through targeted reforms.
Sharif is on a three-day visit to Malaysia, where he held wide-ranging talks a day earlier with his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim.
The two countries announced a new $200 million halal meat trade quota and pledged to deepen cooperation in the digital economy, agriculture and education, in what both leaders described as a renewed effort to expand economic and strategic ties between the two Muslim nations.
“We are determined to create a business-friendly environment and improve the ease of doing business,” Sharif said, according to a statement from his office, during the meeting. “Our priority is to mobilize domestic and international capital to build a sustainable startup ecosystem.”
He said the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a hybrid civil-military body set up two years ago to fast-track decisions in key economic sectors, was actively working to provide all necessary support to foreign investors.
Sharif also highlighted that Pakistan’s digital economy — including fintech, e-commerce and IT services — occupied a central place in the country’s national development strategy.
Gobi Partners, founded in 2002, has more than $1.6 billion in assets under management, investing across emerging markets in and around Malaysia’s immediate neighborhood, particularly in startups.
The visiting delegation expressed interest in collaborating with Pakistani firms in the financial technology and online commerce sectors, according to the statement.
Later in the day, the prime minister received an honorary doctorate in leadership and governance from the International Islamic University Malaysia.
Sharif spoke about the Islamic paradigm of leadership while addressing the occasion and thanked the participants of the event.
“Today, the Muslim Ummah confronts formidable challenges,” he said in his acceptance speech. “Conflicts, poverty, disunity and more than ever, it is in these testing times that we need to hold on together to our values and ethics guided by our religion, Islam, to be able to reclaim our lost place in the comity of nations.”
“Our responsibility as servants and as leaders is to provide them the right platforms to serve the cause of suffering humanity with compassion and with great commitment,” he added.
The prime minister said he also hoped his visit would strengthen academic cooperation between Pakistan and Malaysia and praised IIUM as one of the Muslim world’s most respected institutions that integrate knowledge, and ethics.
