SDGs Investment Fair concludes

Business Recorder reported that the National Sustainable Development Goals Investment Fair has closed in Karachi after two days of meetings between officials, investors, lenders and development partners. The UN Development Programme and the national government jointly convened the event under the SDGs Plus Programme. 35 public-private partnership projects, valued at about USD26 billion, were put before potential backers, and a letter of intent was signed for a USD40 million tourism project.

Projects spanning transport, climate, farming, water, sanitation, tourism, industry, trade and technology were set out by federal and provincial agency representatives over the two days. Participants included the Sindh and Punjab public-private partnership bodies, the Ravi Urban Development Authority, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa investment board and the Balochistan partnership authority. Federal Planning Minister Prof Ahsan Iqbal said in his day-two keynote that the fair turns URAAN's pillars into opportunities that can draw investors.

Dr Samuel Rizk, UNDP's resident representative in Pakistan, stressed that continued engagement is needed to move projects ahead. A panel moderated by Van Nguyen examined how capital markets and the private sector can channel sustainable finance, with AKD Securities chief executive Farid Alam among the speakers. Jam Khan Shoro, Sindh's planning minister, formally closed the event and stressed closer links between government and business to achieve outcomes across health, WASH and farming.