Pakistan will hold its inaugural digital foreign direct investment forum this week, the information ministry said, as the country aims to showcase its digital economy potential, attract foreign fundings and promote technology exchanges.
The Digital Foreign Direct Investment (DFDI) 2025 forum, hosted in Islamabad from April 29-30, is being organized by the Pakistani ministry of IT and Telecommunication in collaboration with the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO). Over 400 delegates and more than 200 IT and telecom companies will attend the event from over 30 countries.
The forum will aim to bring together global policymakers to discuss frameworks that enhance digital infrastructure, adoption and exports across the 16 DCO member states. It will showcase the readiness of DCO member states, with Pakistan as the host, for digital investment by leveraging their skilled talent, supportive policies, and high-growth sectors such as fintech, AI and cybersecurity.
“The purpose is to showcase Pakistan’s digital economy, attract foreign investment and promote innovation and technology exchange,” the information ministry said.
The platform also aims to facilitate partnerships between IT leaders from DCO member states and international delegates to drive innovation, knowledge exchange, and cross-border cooperation. The goal is to present actionable prospects for investors, backed by data on the combined $3.5 trillion GDP and thriving digital ecosystems across DCO member states, including Pakistan’s dynamic IT sector.
“The Digital Foreign Direct Investment Forum is a strategic initiative designed to position Pakistan as a pivotal hub for digital investments,” IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja was quoted as saying on the forum’s official website.
As of 2025, Internet penetration in Pakistan was estimated at 58.4 percent, as per the IT ministry, with 142 million Internet users in a population of over 240 million. Mobile penetration is at 79.4 percent, including 72.99 million smart phone users.
Pakistan also has an over $3 billion IT export market, with IT exports reaching $1.86 billion in the first half of fiscal year 2024-25, up 28.04 percent year-on-year. Its exports grew 26 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year, reaching $300 million monthly.
Speaking to reporters at a briefing in Islamabad on Monday, Khawaja said over 10 ministers and vice ministers of IT and other allied ministries from different countries will be arriving on Monday and Tuesday for the forum.
“The idea is to showcase Pakistan in both categories, whether it’s the startup, venture capital potential that Pakistan has, or with the already institutionalized, large IT companies related to software and IT products that have, again, a huge potential when it comes to investment opportunities that will work,” Khawaja explained.
She said Pakistan’s IT industry has been growing at a “reasonably fast pace,” noting that its exports have grown annually between 24 percent to 27 percent.
“And we’re trying to actually increase the base further up, trying to hit the target of 4 billion hopefully this year,” Khawaja added.
But the forum is being held as digital media in Pakistan has been muffled with measures by telecom authorities to slow down Internet speeds and restrict VPN use while social media platform X has been blocked for over a year. Earlier this year, parliament approved a law to regulate social media content that rights activists and experts widely say is aimed at curbing press freedom and controlling the digital landscape. The government denies this.
Last year the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) said Pakistan’s economy could lose up to $300 million due to Internet disruptions caused by the imposition of a national firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms. The government denies the use of the firewall for censorship.
Khawaja, however, said the government genuinely feels that the freedom Pakistani citizens generally have with regard to Internet usage is “quite high.”
“Actually except for X that you mentioned, there is no platform that is not accessible to anyone,” she said. “There are no, per se, restrictions on the usage.”
