Pakistan has made another attempt to connect with Japan. This time, the focus is mainly on technology, rather than the older stories about textiles and auto parts that have long shaped the relationship.

Federal Minister for IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima Khawaja spoke at a business seminar in Tokyo. The seminar was organized together by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB). The event was called “Pakistan’s Digital Transformation and Opportunities for Partnership with Japan”.

She invited Japanese companies to invest in Pakistan’s technology sector, especially to open research and development centres (R&D). Ambassadors, the CEO of PSEB, and senior officials from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry were all present at the meeting. This was not a small or unimportant event.

Why Japan Matters to Pakistan’s Technology Goals 

The minister leaned on a handful of numbers that Pakistan has been repeating a lot lately whenever it talks to foreign investors. More than 161 million people are broadband subscribers, with a fiber optic backbone that now runs over 17,200 kilometres. Over 750 MHz of spectrum was released this year to make room for faster connectivity and 5G. None of these figures are new, exactly, but stacking them together is meant to send one message: the basic digital groundwork exists, so investors don’t need to start from scratch.

Then came the demographic pitch, which is honestly the part Pakistani officials tend to reach for the most. 68% of Pakistan’s population is under the age of 30, and each year more than 75,000 IT graduates and........

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