The Pakistan-Romania Business Forum convened in Bucharest on Tuesday, 6 October 2026, bringing Pakistani and Romanian companies together to boost bilateral trade and investment. Organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR) with the Pakistan–Romania Business Council (PRBC) and the Embassy of Romania in Pakistan, the event ran on the sidelines of a Pakistani business mission to Romania. Pakistan’s Ambassador to Romania, Ilyas Mehmood Nizami, pitched Pakistan as a large, strategically located market for Romanian investors.
Key Facts
When and where: 6 October 2026, CCIR Business Center, Aurel Ghibuțiu Hall, Bucharest.
Organisers: Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR), Pakistan–Romania Business Council (PRBC), Embassy of Romania in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s side: Ambassador Ilyas Mehmood Nizami; PRBC Advisor & COO Atif Farooqi and the visiting business delegation.
Romania’s side: Doru-Claudian Frunzulica, Vice President of ARICE; Prof. Cristina-Emanuela Dascalu, Member of the Chamber of Deputies; Irina Bogdan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ovidiu Ioan Silaghi, CCIR Secretary General; a video message from Romania’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Dr. Dan Stoenescu.
Sectors on the agenda: solar energy, IT services, infrastructure, agriculture, defence production and education.
Context: 2025 marked 60 years of Pakistan–Romania diplomatic relations; around 761 companies with Pakistani capital operate in Romania; the ports of Constanța and Karachi signed a cooperation MoU in March 2026.
Pakistan-Romania Business Forum: Pakistan’s investment pitch
Ambassador Nizami told Romanian companies that Pakistan’s large population offers a sizeable consumer market and a deep pool of skilled labour and professionals, while the country’s geographic position gives it a natural role in regional connectivity. He detailed the incentives Islamabad offers foreign investors, including the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a one-window platform designed to cut through red tape for international enterprises. Pakistan’s free trade agreement with China, he added, further strengthens its appeal as a production and export base.
From the Romanian side, ARICE – the Romanian Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade – used the forum to present Romania as an entry point to the European Single Market for Pakistani exporters. Vice President Doru-Claudian Frunzulica stressed that the agency both attracts foreign investment into Romania and helps Romanian companies expand abroad, and said the forum created a direct channel for Romanian firms to engage Pakistani counterparts.
Six sectors on the table
Discussions identified concrete areas where the two economies complement each other:
- Solar energy: joint projects tapping Pakistan’s renewable potential.
- IT services: expanding the digital economy and tech partnerships.
- Infrastructure: joint ventures improving physical connectivity.
- Agriculture: sharing expertise and upgrading farming practices.
- Defence production: exploring co-production ventures.
- Education: academic and research exchanges between universities.
More business and trade coverage is available on watannews.dk.
Constanța as a gateway: the port and logistics angle
A recurring theme at the forum was Romania’s potential as a gateway for Pakistani companies into the European Union. Around 761 companies with Pakistani capital already operate in Romania, according to CCIR, and the chamber maintains cooperation agreements with the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The March 2026 MoU between the Port of Constanța and the Karachi Port Trust – linking the Black Sea and the Arabian Sea – gives that ambition a physical backbone: Constanța connects directly to Central Europe via the Danube corridor, while Karachi is Pakistan’s main seaport.
The forum follows a busy year of Pakistan–Romania economic diplomacy. In September 2026 Ambassador Nizami met CCIR President Mihai Daraban to prepare the October event, while Ambassador Stoenescu held parallel talks in Islamabad with the FPCCI and the PRBC on the Karachi- and Lahore-based business delegation that visited Bucharest, Constanța, Prahova and Brașov.
Conclusion
The Pakistan-Romania Business Forum marked a shift from institutional dialogue to direct business-to-business engagement. By putting Pakistan’s market, labour force and investment incentives in front of Romanian companies – and Romania’s EU-market access in front of Pakistani exporters – the event laid the groundwork for concrete joint ventures across six sectors. Read this story on watannews.dk as well.
