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ISLAMABAD: The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) will participate in over 120 international exhibitions to boost exports and foreign investment as part of its business plan this fiscal year, the Pakistani commerce ministry said on Monday, with a major focus on Gulf states.

Pakistan has been actively participating in international exhibitions to attract customers by showcasing products and services from its growing sectors like information technology (IT), health care, food and engineering. The country recently participated in the Arab Health, Gulfood and AI Everything exhibitions, highlighting its ambition to promote “Made-in-Pakistan” products, forge business-to-business (B2B) partnerships, and tap into new trade opportunities.

Gulf states present a key export opportunity for Pakistani businesses, given their strong consumer demand and large expatriate workforce, and Pakistani companies last year secured millions of dollars in joint ventures, investments and business collaborations during their participation in exhibitions across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Abdullah Ghauri, a section officer to the TDAP secretary, said that participants of a meeting of the TDAP board, presided over by Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, on Monday placed a special focus on ensuring Pakistan’s participation in all key trade events across the Gulf countries.

“We participated in 23 exhibitions and expos last year, majority of them in ����ֱ��, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar,” he told Arab News.

“Out of a target of 120 exhibitions, the participation in last year’s 23 major events across the Gulf states remains a key priority, subject to possible adjustments depending on the circumstances.”

Monday’s TDAP board meeting gave approvals for various strategic initiatives to enhance the country’s export competitiveness and trade facilitation in the financial year 2025–26 which began on July 1, according to the commerce ministry.

The annual business plan included Pakistan’s participation in over 120 exhibitions, along with “Made-in-Pakistan” exhibitions in Ethiopia, Bangladesh and other countries.

Ghauri said this year’s calendar would be published within a week with exact details of the events, adding that information technology (IT), agri-based products, hospitality and services, and infrastructure development would be among major areas of focus.

Pakistan’s IT sector is a priority area for the government to boost export revenues and stabilizing external accounts and Islamabad expects it to reach $4 billion this fiscal year under the “Uraan Pakistan” initiative, which aims to raise IT exports to $10 billion by 2029.

The TDAP board endorsed measures to promote greater participation of women entrepreneurs in international trade exhibitions, according to the commerce ministry.

“The Minister for Commerce stressed the importance of shifting Pakistan’s export focus toward emerging international markets instead of relying solely on traditional destinations,” the ministry said, adding that this approach would help diversify export avenues and reduce dependency on limited regions.

The commerce minister also called for the induction of dedicated researchers within TDAP to conduct sector-specific studies and provide data-driven insights to strengthen the authority’s planning and policy support capabilities.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and Afghan officials on Monday held an inaugural round of the additional secretary-level talks in Islamabad to discuss trade, visa, security, connectivity and refugee issues, amid a thaw in relations between the two neighbors.

The development comes weeks after a meeting of the Pakistani, Afghan and Chinese foreign ministers in Beijing, after which FM Wang Yi had said that Islamabad and Kabul had expressed a willingness to elevate their diplomatic relations. It was followed by the upgradation of the diplomatic representation of the two countries to the ambassador’s rank.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have had rocky relations mainly due to a spike in militancy in Pakistan’s western regions that border Afghanistan, following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in 2021. Islamabad says anti-Pakistan militants carry out cross-border attacks using safe havens in Afghanistan, a charge Kabul denies. Another source of tension has been Pakistan’s drive to expel Afghans, which first began in Nov. 2023.

The two sides held the inaugural additional secretary-level talks, pursuant to the decisions reached during the visit of Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to Kabul in April, during which he had held meetings with top Afghan leadership that encompassed peace and security, people-to-people contacts, and trade and economic cooperation, according to the Pakistani foreign office.

“Both sides recognized terrorism as a serious threat to regional peace and security. The Pakistani side emphasized the need for concrete actions against terrorist groups operating on Afghan soil, noting that such groups undermine Pakistan’s security and hinder regional development,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said.

“The two sides exchanged views on deepening trade and transit cooperation. They reviewed the implementation status of measures announced during the visit of Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister of Pakistan to Kabul for facilitating Afghan transit trade, including the removal of a 10 percent processing fee, provision of an insurance guarantee, reduction in scanning and examination, and operationalization of the track and trace system.”

The Pakistani side was led by Additional Secretary for Afghanistan and West Asia, Ambassador Syed Ali Asad Gillani, while the Afghan side was led by Director-General of the First Political Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, Mufti Noor Ahmad Noor.

They underlined the importance of enhanced regional connectivity as a catalyst for sustainable growth and shared prosperity.

“Noting the strategic significance of the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan Railway in that regard, they agreed to make concerted efforts toward the early finalization of the Framework Agreement,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said.

The 850-kilometer-long railway connectivity project aims to link Central Asia with Pakistan’s southern ports of Gwadar and Karachi through Afghanistan to improve trade access for landlocked countries and strengthen economic integration across the region.

Afghanistan’s foreign ministry said the two sides stressed the need to resolve the “issues of Afghan prisoners and refugees in Pakistan and facilitate the provision of visas to Afghan patients and businessmen.”

Pakistan this year said it wanted 3 million Afghans to leave the country, including 1.4 million people with Proof of Registration cards and some 800,000 with Afghan Citizen Cards. There are a further 1 million Afghans in the country illegally because they have no paperwork, according to officials.

“Pakistan side shared an overview of its efforts to facilitate documented travel from Afghanistan, notably through the issuance of over 500,000 visas since January 2024 to date across a range of categories such as medical, tourist, business, and study. Both sides agreed to work together to further strengthen the legal movement of individuals across borders,” Islamabad’s foreign ministry said.

Both sides assured of continued mutual communication and cooperation to address current challenges and described security as important for regional development and further strengthening bilateral relations, according to the two foreign ministries.

They decided to convene the next round of the additional secretary-level talks at mutually convenient dates.

Later, Mufti Noor called on Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch at the “successful conclusion” of the first round of Pakistan-Afghan political consultations, according to the Pakistani foreign office.

“The foreign secretary stressed on regular engagement to deepen ties, address concerns and promote regional peace and prosperity,” it added.