It is easy to forget that the European Union is not just a remote bloc of 27 countries but Pakistan’s second-largest trading partner and, by far, our single biggest export destination.

In 2023, bilateral trade between Pakistan and the EU hovered around 12 billion euros, with Pakistani exports benefitting from preferential access under the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+). For many exporters in Sialkot, Faisalabad and Karachi, Europe is not a distant market but a lifeline.

Yet despite this heavy reliance, our economic relationship remains narrow and transactional. It is dominated by a handful of sectors and beset by compliance costs as European regulations on environment, labour and product safety become ever more stringent. Investment flows from Europe remain modest, and Pakistani companies have done little to integrate themselves into EU value chains beyond basic manufacturing.

If Pakistan is serious about diversifying its exports, attracting sustainable foreign direct investment and retaining its place in European markets, it must move beyond ad hoc lobbying and embrace a deeper, more structured conversation with Brussels and with European business. That is precisely what the EU-Pakistan Business Forum was conceived to do.

The forum, sometimes referred to as the EU-Pakistan Business Network or EU-PKBF, was designed as a high-level platform to bring together government, private sector, and institutional actors from both sides. Its goal: strengthen economic ties, stimulate investment and foster constructive dialogue on trade, regulatory and sectoral challenges.

The inaugural high-level edition was planned for May 2025 under the theme ‘Stronger Together’, with plenary sessions on trade and investment, sectoral breakouts on agribusiness, technology and green logistics, and direct B2B and B2G matchmaking. It also envisioned the launch of an EU-Pakistan Business Network to serve as a continuous bridge between European companies and their Pakistani counterparts. Although the event has been postponed due to geopolitical tensions, the concept behind it remains sound and urgent.

Why does this matter? Because such a forum can serve multiple functions simultaneously. First, it provides a structured policy interface where Pakistani exporters and European importers can voice real-time challenges around customs, standards, digital trade or sustainability requirements. This helps regulators on both sides prioritise reforms and align rules, rather than letting businesses bear the cost of misalignment.

Second, by pre-identifying bankable projects and investment opportunities, the forum can transition from discussion to actual deal-making and joint ventures. Third, through its proposed business network, it can institutionalise continuity, track progress and advocate for reforms long after the closing ceremony. And fourth, it offers a stage to showcase innovation and priority sectors, green technologies, digital services, logistics, agribusiness and the circular economy, where Pakistan can move up the value chain and plug into the EU’s future growth areas.

In other words, the forum is not just another conference; it is a potential fulcrum for turning a transactional relationship into a strategic partnership. But potential is not the same as impact. To realise these benefits, Pakistan must prepare seriously.

That preparation starts with substance. Bankable projects need to be packaged with clear financials, risk profiles and investor protections, ideally linked to EU instruments like Global Gateway or the European Fund for Sustainable Development. Our exporters must understand and plan for forthcoming EU regulations, from carbon border adjustments to due diligence requirements, and use the Forum to co-design transition pathways.

The government should set up a joint secretariat or task force with chambers of commerce and the EU delegation to ensure that recommendations are monitored and implemented. Participation must be inclusive, extending beyond big capital to SMEs, provinces and underserved regions, so that gains are broad-based rather than captured by a few.

We also need to reframe how we talk about Europe. Too often, Pakistani commentary on the EU is reactive, focusing on conditionalities attached to GSP+ or resolutions on human rights. Yet those conditionalities are not going away; in fact, they will intensify as Europe embeds sustainability and rights-based due diligence into its trade policy.

The question is whether Pakistan uses a forum like EU-PKBF to shape those expectations in a way that is realistic for our firms, or whether we allow ourselves to be blindsided by rule changes announced from Brussels. This is particularly relevant in sectors like textiles, where carbon accounting, chemical restrictions and circularity requirements are becoming the norm. If Pakistani firms cannot meet these evolving standards, they will be excluded despite preferential tariffs.

There are, of course, risks beyond regulation. Geopolitical volatility has already derailed one planned event. Implementation gaps, regulatory ambiguity and domestic instability could reduce the Forum to a talk shop. The EU has made it clear that GSP+ benefits hinge on continued progress in human rights, labour rights and media freedom; policy drift could jeopardize access to European markets. For Brussels, consistency on rights is now part of commercial policy. For Islamabad, that should be a cue to take reforms seriously, not an excuse to disengage.

None of these obstacles is insurmountable. In fact, they are precisely why a structured, high-profile platform matters. The EU-Pakistan Business Forum can help both sides confront uncomfortable truths in a businesslike setting: Europe needs stable, diversified suppliers in an era of geopolitical de-risking; Pakistan needs market access, investment and technology transfer to climb the value chain. If executed with strategic rigour and sustained follow-through, the Forum can elevate bilateral engagement from opportunistic trade to a genuine economic partnership, facilitate new investment flows and innovation linkages, help Pakistan diversify its exports and align with global sustainability norms, and provide a credible mechanism for structured public-private cooperation.

The opportunity is larger than commerce. A vibrant EU-Pakistan business corridor can serve as a counterweight to overdependence on a single geography, enhance our negotiating leverage with other partners and signal to investors that Pakistan is committed to reform and connectivity. It can also anchor dialogue on issues like digital trade, renewable energy, gender inclusion in supply chains and skills development, all areas where European firms bring experience and Pakistan brings scale.

But the keyword is ‘can’. Forums do not transform economies; people and policies do. To make the EU-Pakistan Business Forum more than a symbolic gesture, Islamabad will need to treat it not as a photo-op but as part of a larger economic statecraft strategy, one that links regulatory reform at home to market access abroad and embeds business diplomacy into our foreign policy. Brussels, for its part, will need to see Pakistan not merely as a compliance case but as a partner capable of contributing to European objectives on sustainability, connectivity and diversification.

In a period of economic uncertainty and geopolitical flux, Pakistan cannot afford to let this opportunity slip into symbolism. The EU-Pakistan Business Forum presents an opportunity to transform trade into a genuine partnership. If we seize it with preparation, openness and a clear narrative of reform, it can become a durable pillar of Pakistan’s economic diplomacy. If we treat it as yet another event on the calendar, it will fade into the long list of missed opportunities. The choice and the responsibility are ours.

Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this piece are the writer’s own and don’t necessarily reflect Geo.tv’s editorial policy.

The writer is a public policy expert and leads the Country Partner Institute of the World Economic Forum in Pakistan. He tweets/posts @amirjahangir and can be reached at: [email protected]

Originally published in The News