A group of Georgia business leaders from the Pakistani-American community is seeking to further stoke the warming relationship between the state and the South Asian nation.
The Georgia-Pakistan Business Council launched in May and during the following month hosted a delegation from Pakistan at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce.
The organization is the latest of many binational chambers aiming to help Georgia residents of diverse backgrounds foster business ties with the countries of their heritage.
In addition to facilitating cross-border business links, the council also will focus on enhancing the capabilities and connections of the more than 5,000 Pakistani-American business owners estimated to call Georgia home.
The council “will play an important role to promote inclusive economic growth,” said Farooq Mughal, a founding member who is also a board member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and a member of the advocacy organization’s legislative affairs committee. Mr. Mughal is also principal at MS Global Partners, a government affairs consultancy.
Other founding members include Imran Niazi, who runs Blackwater Construction Group in Duluth and sits on the board of the Gwinnett Chamber, as well as consultant, philanthropist and activist Rahim Shah Akhunkhail.
In June, 15 members of the council visited the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce signed a memorandum of understanding with committing them to “champion global business together.”
“Under the framework of the MOU, the Georgia-Pakistan Business Council is looking forward to forging a strong partnership with Gwinnett Chamber to identify business relationships, DEI Initiatives, bilateral trade, and investment opportunities; and continue to promote the economic and business ties between Pakistani Americans and Gwinnett business leaders,” Mr. Mughal said. “A global outlook is crucial to our mutual success. Gwinnett Chamber is extremely important as an economic partner.”
Gwinnett Chamber President and CEO Nick Masino said the partnership, one of many the chamber has signed with binational groups in the county and beyond, shows that it “values inclusion and seeks to ensure we are holistically supporting our vibrantly diverse business community.”
The launch came at a time of momentum for Pakistan in the Southeast U.S. but of turbulence in the Islamic republic of more than 215 million people.
In March, Pakistani Consul General Abrar H. Hashmi, who covers Georgia from his posting in Houston, announced at a dinner in Atlanta that the state is officially being considered for a new consulate general.
That application may be put on the back burner for now, however, as the nation faces political turmoil following the ouster of former Prime Minister Imran Khan via no-confidence vote in April. Mr. Khan has continued to hold rallies and call for fresh elections, however, and his PTI party recently won a stinging election victory in the Punjab province that analysts read as a rebuke to by the population to current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Pakistani Muslim League government over persistently high inflation and ongoing economic hardship.
More information on the council can be found at www.georgiapakistanbusiness.com
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