Upcoming business expo in Kuwait to promote Pakistani products, boost Gulf cooperation

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, meets Foreign Minister of Kuwait, Abdullah Al-Yahya (left), on the sidelines of International Conference on the Two-State Solution at the United Nations in New York, on July 29, 2025. (MOFA Pakistan)
Short Url
Updated 14 October 2025
Follow

Upcoming business expo in Kuwait to promote Pakistani products, boost Gulf cooperation

  • Three-day event from Dec. 11–13 aims to attract investment, expand Pakistan’s footprint in Gulf markets
  • Kuwait is a leading Gulf investor in Pakistan, with stakes in energy, infrastructure, hydrocarbon projects

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Kuwait will host the Kuwait-Pakistan Business Expo 2025 in Kuwait from Dec. 11 to 13, an event aimed at promoting Pakistani products, attracting investment and strengthening trade cooperation between the two countries, state media reported this week.

Kuwait is already a significant investor in Pakistan’s energy and infrastructure sectors, with the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development financing social, water and power projects, while Kuwait Petroleum subsidiary KUFPEC holds stakes in Pakistani gas fields. Trade has also grown steadily: both countries signed an industrial cooperation agreement in May 2024 to expand non-oil sectors and regularly hold Bilateral Political Consultations to review trade, investment and manpower cooperation. Kuwait hosts around 95,000 Pakistani workers, whose remittances are estimated at about $1 billion annually, according to official data. 

In May 2025, Kuwait lifted a 19-year visa ban on Pakistani citizens, resuming issuance of work, family, visit, tourist and business visas. The resumption of visas is seen as a major shift in bilateral relations, reopening opportunities for Pakistani expatriates, entrepreneurs, migrant workers and businesses. 

The upcoming expo in Kuwait is aimed to give momentum to these expanding ties and provide a world-class platform for promoting Pakistani products, exploring joint ventures and strengthening trade and investment cooperation between the two nations.

“Pakistan and Kuwait, bound by historic ties of friendship and mutual support, are set to take another major step toward strengthening their economic relationship through the upcoming Expo,” Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Sardar Tahir Mehmood said, as quoted by APP, while speaking to a visiting delegation from the Expo’s organizing committee.

He added that the expo reflected “deepening economic engagement” between Pakistan and Kuwait, supported by decades of mutual trust and collaboration in fields such as defense, investment and health.

Mehmood said business communities in both countries should actively explore joint ventures to unlock the full potential of trade and investment, adding that the expo would serve as a “catalyst for trade diversification, industrial collaboration, and economic growth.”

APP quoted the business leader as saying that through stronger partnerships and mutual understanding, both nations could achieve “a balanced, win-win trade relationship” that benefits both economies.

Members of the Kuwaiti organizing delegation said the expo would allow Pakistani entrepreneurs to expand their footprint in the Gulf market, APP reported, and promote trade, investment and partnerships between the two sides.


Pakistan’s PIA, Bangladeshi Biman airlines sign cargo deal to augment trade

Updated 17 November 2025
Follow

Pakistan’s PIA, Bangladeshi Biman airlines sign cargo deal to augment trade

  • The partnership will minimize complexities in transporting textiles, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products
  • PIA will utilize key Saudi Arabian hubs of Jeddah, Madinah and Riyadh as transit gateways, the airline says

KARACHI: The state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Biman Bangladesh Airlines have signed a deal to streamline air cargo and augment bilateral trade, a PIA spokesman said on Monday, amid a thaw in relations between the two countries.

Pakistan and Bangladesh used to be one nation, but they split in 1971 as a result of a bloody civil war, which saw the part previously referred to as East Pakistan seceding to form the independent nation of Bangladesh.

Ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh have warmed up since the fall of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was widely viewed as close to India and critical of Pakistan, following a student-led uprising in August 2024.

The PIA spokesman said the airline has signed a Cargo Interline Special Agreement with Biman airlines as part of the former’s plans to expand cargo business and to provide competitive services to customers. The agreement will be effective from Dec. 1.

“The partnership will also facilitate in minimizing logistical complexities in transporting commodities such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural products,” the PIA spokesman said.

“The airline will utilize key Saudi Arabian hubs that are Jeddah, Madinah, and Riyadh, as transit gateways, establishing a strategic corridor for regional trade.”

Islamabad has attempted to forge closer ties with Bangladesh in recent months as relations remain frosty between Dhaka and New Delhi over India’s decision to grant asylum to Hasina after she fled the country.

In Feb., a first cargo ship in decades sailed directly from Pakistan to Bangladesh and successfully unloaded its containers, port officials said. Pakistan is also mulling resumption of direct flights to Dhaka.

The two countries signed six agreements in Aug. relating to visa abolition for diplomatic and official passport holders, Joint Working Group on Trade, foreign services academies of Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Associated Press of Pakistan

Corporation and Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad and the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies, and a cultural exchange program.