LONDON: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Tuesday with senior executives from five major global financial institutions during a visit to the United Kingdom, seeking to draw investment to a country working to stabilize its economy.
Sharif held separate meetings with representatives of Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Citi, BlackRock and Rothschild & Co., according to a statement from his office. The statement said the talks reflected growing interest among international financial firms in Pakistan's economic reforms and investment climate.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Muhammad Ali, Sharif's adviser on privatization and chairman of the Privatization Commission, attended the meetings.
In his meeting with Mohammad Kamal Syed, head of private bank and wealth management UK at Barclays, Sharif described the government's measures to stabilize the economy and encouraged the bank to explore opportunities in Pakistan's financial sector.
Sharif also met a J.P. Morgan delegation led by Matthieu Wiltz, co-CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The two sides discussed deeper cooperation in capital markets, trade finance and investment banking, and Sharif invited the firm to expand its presence in Pakistan. The delegation reaffirmed its interest in sovereign debt capital markets and corporate banking, the statement said.
Citi officials, led by Chief Client Officer David Livingstone, also met with the prime minister. Sharif praised the bank's long presence in Pakistan and urged it to expand its corporate and institutional banking services.
A BlackRock delegation included Gordon Fraser and Sam Vecht, co-heads of emerging markets and frontiers, and Emily Fletcher, a portfolio manager and research analyst. Sharif invited the firm to increase its allocations to Pakistani stocks and fixed income within its frontier markets strategy. Both sides stressed that consistent policy is important to building investor confidence, according to the statement.
Sharif's talks with Rothschild & Co. involved Lord Mark Sedwill, chair of geostrategic advisory, and Majid Ishaq, head of UK investment banking. They focused on Pakistan's geo-economic priorities and possible advisory work on capital markets and investment strategy.
The statement said the executives expressed confidence in Pakistan's reform momentum and pledged to deepen their engagement with its financial sector. It described the meetings as a significant step in the government's effort to strengthen investor confidence and attract sustained capital flows.
