{"id":58637,"date":"2026-01-31T08:49:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T08:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/?p=58637"},"modified":"2026-01-31T08:51:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T08:51:47","slug":"icci-hosts-roundtable-conference-of-senior-diplomats-on-sister-city-projects-and-strengthening-economic-cooperation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/icci-hosts-roundtable-conference-of-senior-diplomats-on-sister-city-projects-and-strengthening-economic-cooperation\/","title":{"rendered":"ICCI Hosts Roundtable Conference of Senior Diplomats on Sister City Projects and Strengthening Economic Cooperation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-58639\" src=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ICCI-Sister-City-Pakistan-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ICCI-Sister-City-Pakistan-1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ICCI-Sister-City-Pakistan-1-300x194.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><strong>ISLAMABAD : 29 Jan 2026 &#8211; The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) organized a Roundtable Conference of Senior Diplomats and Commercial Counsellors, aimed at strengthening economic diplomacy and enhancing trade and investment cooperation between Pakistan and the international business community. Mr. Sajid Iqbal, the convenor of Sister City Project at ICCI welcomed the guests on arrival.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Addressing the forum, ICCI President Sardar Tahir Mehmood highlighted Pakistan\u2019s vast trade and investment potential by projecting an increasingly business-friendly environment driven by economic reforms, improved ease of doing business, and strong private-sector participation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He stated that Pakistan, and Islamabad in particular, offers a secure and attractive ecosystem for foreign investors, with growing opportunities across multiple sectors.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He emphasized that ICCI has been playing a proactive role in promoting exports and investment by facilitating B2B linkages, organizing international trade delegations, encouraging joint ventures, engaging policymakers for regulatory simplification, and providing market intelligence to exporters and investors.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He noted that ICCI remains committed to acting as a bridge between the government, diplomatic missions, and the business community to translate opportunities into tangible economic outcomes.<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-58644\" src=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ICCI-Sister-City-Pakistan-11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ICCI-Sister-City-Pakistan-11.jpg 600w, https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ICCI-Sister-City-Pakistan-11-300x94.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sardar Tahir Mehmood underlined the importance of Commercial Counsellors and Economic Attach\u00e9s in facilitating market access, guiding businesses on regulatory frameworks, and identifying emerging opportunities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He said that structured and continuous engagement with diplomatic missions would help Pakistani businesses integrate into global value chains and diversify export markets. He briefly referred to the Islamabad Sister Cities Initiative as one of the platforms supporting ICCI\u2019s broader economic diplomacy efforts.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Additional Secretary, Prime Minister\u2019s Office, Zulfiqar Ali, in his address, highlighted the Prime Minister\u2019s initiatives for promoting trade, investment, and exports. Director General Trade Policies, Ministry of Commerce, Shafeeq Ahmed Shehzad, informed participants that comprehensive measures are being undertaken to improve ease of doing business, including tariff rationalization and policy reforms.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Dorsaf Maaroufi Arfaoui ! Acting Ambassador Tunisia @  Twin City Forum Islamabad\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Hp879sGPOX0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: center;\"><strong>Ambassador of Yemen Mohammed Motahar Alshabi, Economic Counsellors Embassy of Japan, Kazakhstan, Head of Chancery Malaysian High Commission, Second Secretary Embassy of Vietnam, Deputy head of Mission Embassy of Azerbaijan, Commercial Counsellors Embassy of Belarus, Bosnia Minister Counsellor Embassy of Sri Lanka, First Secretary Embassy of Iran, Researcher from Embassy of South Korea, Deputy Head of Mission Embassy of Tunisia,\u00a0 and representative from Kyrgyzstan\u00a0\u00a0 appreciated ICCI\u2019s initiative and termed Pakistan a promising destination for trade and investment. They expressed their countries\u2019 interest in joint ventures and enhancing bilateral trade volumes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his vote of thanks, former ICCI President and Convener ICCI Standing Committee on Diplomatic Affairs Zafar Bakhtawari emphasized the importance of connectivity and sustained institutional engagement for promoting multifaceted economic relations among countries. He also appreciated the participation of diplomatic missions and reaffirmed ICCI\u2019s commitment to serving as a platform for economic collaboration.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Senior Vice President ICCI Tahir Ayub\u00a0 who conducted the proceedings as Master of the ceremony, provided insightful references to the historical , geographical and economic significance of the participating countries, while Convener Islamabad Cities Initiative Sajid Iqbal presented the concept note of the roundtable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The conference was also attended by ICCI Vice President Irfan Chaudhry, Executive Committee members and a large number of representatives from the trade and industrial community, who termed the event a significant step toward strengthening Pakistan\u2019s economic diplomacy and international business engagement.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Baku Islamabad Twin City @ Samir from Azerbaijan Embassy @ Islamabad Forum\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IwMIU-XBtIQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD : 29 Jan 2026 &#8211; The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) organized a Roundtable Conference of Senior Diplomats and Commercial Counsellors, aimed at strengthening economic diplomacy and enhancing trade and investment cooperation between Pakistan and the international business community. Mr. Sajid Iqbal, the convenor of Sister City Project at ICCI welcomed the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1741,2576,971,251,48,522,3930],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58637"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58646,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58637\/revisions\/58646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}