- Friday, February 28, 2025
Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, the former chairman of Pakistan’s Board of Investment (BOI), confirmed Ma’s visit to The Express Tribune, revealing that the latter arrived in Lahore on June 29.
By: Shubham Ghosh
JACK Ma, the Chinese billionaire and co-founder of Alibaba Group, surprised observers with an unanticipated trip to Pakistan, creating a buzz among onlookers, as reported by The Express Tribune, a leading English-language newspaper in Pakistan.
Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, the former chairman of Pakistan’s Board of Investment (BOI), confirmed Ma’s visit to The Express Tribune, revealing that the latter arrived in Lahore on June 29 and stayed for approximately 23 hours.
During his visit, Ma deliberately avoided interactions with government officials and the media, choosing instead to stay at a private location. On June 30, he departed from Pakistan on a private jet registered under the name VP-CMA, owned by Jet Aviation.
In an interesting development, I broke the first news of the Founder of @AlibabaGroup, @JackMa's visit to Pakistan. Here, a private photo from his visit to a friend’s residence in Lahore. Ma being a heralded tech entrepreneur brings hope for future business ventures in #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/UtZE5yiokj
— Muhammad Azfar Ahsan (@MAzfarAhsan) June 30, 2023
While the purpose of Ma’s visit remains undisclosed, Ahsan expressed optimism that it will bring positive outcomes for Pakistan in the near future, according to The Express Tribune.
Accompanied by a delegation of seven businessmen, including five Chinese nationals, one Danish individual, and one US citizen, Ma and his team arrived in Pakistan from Nepal via a chartered flight from Hong Kong’s business aviation sector.
Speculation has been rife on social media regarding Ma and his team exploring business opportunities in Pakistan, potentially involving visits to trade centres and meetings with prominent businessmen and officials from various chambers of commerce. However, no specific business deals or meetings have been confirmed thus far.
In a tweet, Ahsan clarified that Ma’s visit was solely for personal purposes. Interestingly, even the Chinese embassy was unaware of the details of Ma’s visit and engagements in the country.
Zohaib Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), emphasised that although the visit was personal in nature, it had a positive impact on Pakistan’s reputation in terms of tourism.
Khan expressed the belief that Pakistani authorities should have seized the opportunity to arrange a meeting with Ma, benefiting from his extensive experience in the IT world. He suggested that even a statement from Ma regarding Pakistan’s IT sector would have a significant influence.
(With agency inputs)
