A Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITeS (PASHA) delegation led by Chairman Dr Shoab Khan, along with Muhammad Zohaib Khan, PASHA CEC Member and ASOCIO Vice Chairman, and Zain Tariq, Manager Special Initiatives, met with the leadership of PIKOM, the National Tech Association of Malaysia, to discuss business and trade opportunities across the technology sector. The meeting brought together Alex Liew, Chairman of PIKOM, Kian Yew Ong, CEO of PIKOM, and officials from China Mobile, with discussions centred on building business linkages and exploring strategic partnerships between the technology ecosystems of Pakistan and Malaysia. Zohaib Khan’s involvement carries particular weight given his recent election as the first Pakistani to serve as Vice Chairman and board member of the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) in its more than 25-year association with the country.
The engagement continues the established PASHA-PIKOM Memorandum of Understanding and strategic partnership, focusing on identifying concrete opportunities for collaboration and initiatives that can create greater opportunities for technology companies in both countries. This meeting takes on added significance given Pakistan’s recent win of the bid to host the ASOCIO Digital Summit in November 2026, which will bring technology leadership and delegations from 24 member economies, including Malaysia, Japan, China, Australia, and New Zealand, to Pakistan. Zohaib Khan had previously described securing the summit as Pakistan’s biggest tech achievement since hosting the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards, giving the PIKOM engagement a direct bearing on how Pakistan positions itself ahead of hosting that broader regional gathering.
PIKOM, Malaysia’s national ICT industry association, represents a technology sector that has built substantial regional influence through its own international partnerships and trade promotion efforts, making it a natural counterpart for PASHA as both associations work to deepen bilateral technology cooperation. Bringing officials from China Mobile into the same discussion also signals that the meeting’s scope extended beyond a purely bilateral Pakistan-Malaysia framework, potentially opening pathways for Pakistani technology companies to connect with broader East Asian telecom and technology players through the Malaysian association’s existing networks.
The meeting adds to PASHA’s broader push toward deepening Pakistan’s position within the Asia-Pacific technology ecosystem, following Zohaib Khan’s efforts that contributed to securing the ASOCIO Digital Summit hosting rights and his subsequent election to the organization’s board. With the summit scheduled for November 2026, PASHA’s continued engagement with PIKOM and other ASOCIO member associations in the lead-up to that event will likely shape which specific collaboration initiatives and business linkages are formalized when delegations from across the region gather in Pakistan. Whether this latest meeting with PIKOM translates into concrete trade agreements or joint ventures between Pakistani and Malaysian technology companies will likely become clearer as both associations continue working toward the summit and the broader strategic partnership it is meant to advance.
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