Pakistan pitches Qatar on IT investment and a joint fund, with a startups working group to follow up
At the second meeting of the Pakistan Qatar task force on trade and investment in Doha, Islamabad asked for Qatari money in digital services and floated an investment fund. No figures were announced.
Pakistan has asked Qatar to invest in its IT and digital services sector and proposed a joint investment fund, in talks held in Doha on 24 October. The meeting was the second session of the Pakistan Qatar Joint Task Force on Trade and Investment, jointly chaired by Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan and Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Trade Affairs, Dr Ahmad bin Mohammed Al Sayed. The commerce ministry said the two sides reviewed progress since the first meeting in April 2026.
No amounts, project names or signing dates were given. The meeting produced a list of asks and a work plan.
The asks for tech
On IT, Pakistan pointed to its growing technology exports and invited Qatari investment in IT and digital services. It also proposed an Investment Fund with Qatari participation across infrastructure, agriculture, industrial development, IT and other priority sectors. Its size and manager were not stated.
Electric vehicles were the other technology pitch. Pakistan presented opportunities in new energy vehicles under its new EV policy, including joint manufacturing, technology transfer and industrial partnerships. The rest of the Pakistani list covered grain storage and cold chains, shipping, and the Karachi Hyderabad Motorway. Qatar's own request was for closer cooperation in civil aviation, which Pakistan welcomed.
Working groups and side meetings
The part that matters most to founders is procedural. The task force created eleven technical working groups at its first meeting, covering logistics, aviation, advanced manufacturing, mining and minerals, agriculture, tourism, fintech, health care, education, industrial development, and IT and startups. Each group is expected to identify concrete trade and investment opportunities, resolve outstanding issues and prepare sector by sector reports.
Jam Kamal Khan stayed in Doha for the 9th World Investment Forum, which ran from 25 to 27 October. There he met Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, chairman of the Qatar Businessmen Association, to discuss business to business links in IT, logistics, agriculture and food security. He also met the chairman of the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industries and invited Qatari investors to Pakistan's special economic zones, in particular the Karachi industrial area. Qatar's Retaj Group told him it was interested in joint ventures with Pakistani partners to bring its hospitality brands to Pakistan.
In 2022 the emir's office said the Qatar Investment Authority aimed to invest $3 billion in Pakistan across transport, civil aviation, education, health, IT and other sectors.
Pakistan wants the eleven working groups started early. Their reports and recommendations are due ahead of the third meeting of the task force, for which no date has been set.
