{"id":85225,"date":"2026-02-16T11:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T11:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/?p=85225"},"modified":"2026-02-21T11:10:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T11:10:38","slug":"dar-pushes-for-deeper-trade-technology-links-at-high-level-business-forum-in-vienna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/dar-pushes-for-deeper-trade-technology-links-at-high-level-business-forum-in-vienna\/","title":{"rendered":"Dar pushes for deeper trade, technology links at high-level business forum in Vienna"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>VIENNA: Pakistan\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, on Monday called for expanded cooperation in trade, investment and technology as he delivered opening remarks at the Pakistan\u2013Austria High-Level Business Roundtable in Vienna.<\/p>\n<p>The forum, hosted at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, brought together leading companies and business representatives from both countries, underscoring renewed momentum in bilateral economic engagement between Pakistan and Austria.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85226\" src=\"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HBSgDTEbQAA4oAT-630x420-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"420\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HBSgDTEbQAA4oAT-630x420-1.jpg 630w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HBSgDTEbQAA4oAT-630x420-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HBSgDTEbQAA4oAT-630x420-1-150x100.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>ADDRESSING PARTICIPANTS, SENATOR DAR EMPHASIZED THE NEED TO BROADEN COLLABORATION BEYOND TRADITIONAL SECTORS, HIGHLIGHTING OPPORTUNITIES IN TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION, RENEWABLE ENERGY AND INDUSTRIAL MODERNIZATION.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He pointed to Pakistan\u2019s ongoing economic reforms aimed at stabilizing macroeconomic fundamentals and improving the ease of doing business.<\/p>\n<p>The Deputy Prime Minister said Austria\u2019s technological expertise and advanced industrial base complemented Pakistan\u2019s large and youthful population, expanding consumer market and strategic geographic location linking South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are natural complementarities between Austria\u2019s technological strengths and Pakistan\u2019s dynamic market and young workforce,\u201d he noted, inviting Austrian firms to explore long-term partnerships and joint ventures in Pakistan.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-85227\" src=\"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HBSgDG0bEAA51Zj.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"598\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HBSgDG0bEAA51Zj.jpg 598w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HBSgDG0bEAA51Zj-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HBSgDG0bEAA51Zj-279x420.jpg 279w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HBSgDG0bEAA51Zj-150x226.jpg 150w, https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/HBSgDG0bEAA51Zj-300x452.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px\" \/><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>DAR REAFFIRMED ISLAMABAD\u2019S COMMITMENT TO STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONAL LINKAGES AND ENHANCING BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS CONNECTIVITY, EXPRESSING CONFIDENCE THAT SUSTAINED POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL WOULD TRANSLATE INTO TANGIBLE ECONOMIC GAINS.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The roundtable was part of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s official visit to Vienna, which marks 70 years of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Austria and aims to inject fresh momentum into trade and investment ties.<\/p>\n<p>The officials said discussions at the forum focused on identifying new avenues for cooperation across key sectors and leveraging Pakistan\u2019s reform agenda to attract foreign direct investment.<\/p>\n<p>They view the engagement as part of Pakistan\u2019s broader strategy to diversify economic partnerships within Europe and position itself as a competitive destination for investment amid shifting global supply chains and regional connectivity initiatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VIENNA: Pakistan\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, on Monday called for expanded cooperation in trade, investment and technology as he delivered opening remarks at the Pakistan\u2013Austria High-Level Business Roundtable in Vienna. The forum, hosted at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, brought together leading companies and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":85228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,67,25,74,65,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","category-diplomacy","category-economy","category-europe","category-foreign-missions","category-world","post_format-post-format-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85229,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85225\/revisions\/85229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}