A high-level delegation from Bangladesh visiting Pakistan under the NextGen Leaders Forum met with Pakistan Software Export Board Chief Executive Officer Faisal Jeddy and senior leadership at the PSEB Head Office in Islamabad, as the two countries explore opportunities to strengthen digital cooperation and build closer ties between their respective technology industries. The NextGen Leaders Forum is an Atlantic Council initiative funded by the Gates Foundation, bringing together emerging leaders from Bangladesh across technology, business, academia, media, and other sectors as part of a broader effort to improve Pakistan-Bangladesh relations and expand regional connectivity after decades of limited engagement between the two nations.
The Bangladeshi delegation engaged with Faisal Jeddy alongside Director of Industry Facilitation Sulman Hassan, Chief Skills Development Officer Dr. Henna Karamat Durrani, and Chief Marketing Officer Amir Anzur, covering a range of topics relevant to building practical cooperation between the two countries’ information technology and information technology enabled services sectors. Discussions focused on identifying opportunities for stronger digital cooperation, developing business-to-business linkages between Pakistani and Bangladeshi technology companies, facilitating knowledge exchange between industry institutions on both sides, and improving the overall connectivity between the two countries’ technology ecosystems in a structured and sustained manner rather than through one-off interactions.
Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have developed growing technology export sectors over the past decade, with each country building a base of software development, business process outsourcing, and digital services talent that serves international markets. Despite these parallels, direct engagement between the two industries has historically been limited, making the NextGen Leaders Forum’s visit to PSEB a meaningful step toward identifying the specific areas where collaboration is most likely to generate tangible outcomes. For Pakistan, deepening ties with Bangladesh opens a potential avenue for co-developing regional technology services propositions, sharing regulatory and policy experiences, and exploring joint market access into third countries where both nations are seeking to expand their information technology exports.
PSEB has described the meeting as part of its ongoing effort to build relationships that translate regional dialogue into meaningful partnerships and new market opportunities for Pakistan’s information technology industry. As Pakistan works to expand its technology footprint globally and position itself as a credible destination for technology investment and outsourcing, engagement with peer economies in South Asia that have followed comparable development trajectories offers both practical cooperation potential and a model for how developing-country technology sectors can strengthen each other through structured bilateral dialogue. The delegation’s visit signals that the foundation for a more active Pakistan-Bangladesh technology relationship is being laid at the institutional level, with PSEB serving as the primary interlocutor on the Pakistani side.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
