In conjunction with the working visit of His Excellency Dato’ Mohammad Azhar Mazlan, High Commissioner of Malaysia to Pakistan, to attend the Pakistan International Maritime Expo and Conference (PIMEC) 2025, the Consulate General of Malaysia in Karachi organized a side engagement with the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on 5 November 2025. The program, entitled “Promoting Sustainable Tourism through Bilateral and Multilateral Partnership,” aimed to capitalize on the High Commissioner’s presence in Karachi to enhance Malaysia’s diplomatic and economic outreach in the tourism sector. It also served as a platform to underscore Malaysia’s leadership in sustainable tourism practices of its ASEAN Chairmanship 2025.
The FPCCI engagement gathered representatives from Pakistan’s leading business and trade bodies. The FPCCI delegation was headed by Mr. Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, Senior Vice President, and Brigadier (Retd) Iftikhar Opel, Secretary General, while Mr. Zubair Tufail attended on behalf of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development (ICCD). The Malaysian delegation was led by His Excellency the High Commissioner, accompanied by officers from the High Commission of Malaysia in Islamabad and the Consulate General of Malaysia in Karachi.
During the meeting, FPCCI extended a warm welcome to the High Commissioner and conveyed appreciation for Malaysia’s consistent efforts in advancing trade, tourism and people-to-people exchanges with Pakistan. His Excellency, in his keynote address, delivered a comprehensive presentation on Malaysia’s sustainable tourism strategy, outlining the country’s alignment with the National Tourism Policy 2020–2030 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He emphasized Malaysia’s commitment to sustainability, inclusivity and digital transformation as the core of its tourism development agenda. The High Commissioner elaborated on Malaysia’s policy direction, highlighting how the country is transitioning from a focus on tourist numbers to measuring the quality and sustainability of experiences, ensuring that tourism growth benefits local communities while preserving the environment.
In his address, His Excellency also underscored Malaysia’s key initiatives in environmental stewardship, high-value tourism, smart tourism technology and community empowerment. Drawing from successful domestic examples such as the Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark and Malaysia’s community-based homestay programs, he explained how Malaysia balances conservation with development. He also stressed the growing importance of Muslim-friendly tourism, citing Malaysia’s Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC) and its Muslim-Friendly Accreditation Programme (MFAR) as models that could be replicated in Pakistan to attract a wider global Muslim market.
The High Commissioner further took the opportunity to highlight the upcoming “Visit Malaysia 2026” campaign, inviting Pakistan’s tourism stakeholders, travel agencies and airlines to collaborate in promoting Malaysia as a preferred travel destination. He emphasized that the campaign would serve as a major platform to showcase Malaysia’s cultural diversity, natural beauty and sustainable tourism credentials. The initiative, he noted, provides a timely opportunity for Pakistan to partner with Malaysia in developing joint tourism promotion activities, increasing two-way travel and fostering greater public awareness of Malaysia’s tourism offerings.
The discussion also touched upon potential collaboration in eco-tourism and community-based tourism between both countries. His Excellency proposed the idea of linking Malaysia’s island destinations, such as Langkawi, with Pakistan’s northern mountainous regions through a Langkawi–Hunza Sustainable Tourism Exchange. This concept, he explained, could facilitate experience-sharing between Malaysian and Pakistani communities in managing environmental resources, promoting digital visitor management and strengthening community participation in tourism. He also reiterated Malaysia’s readiness to share expertise through the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP), offering training to Pakistani officials and tourism practitioners in areas such as destination marketing, marine conservation and sustainable tourism management.
In addition, the High Commissioner underlined Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship 2025, themed “Inclusivity and Sustainability,” and encouraged Pakistan, as a Sectoral Dialogue Partner of ASEAN, to participate more actively in regional tourism initiatives. He mentioned mechanisms such as the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) and the ASEAN Centre for Sustainable Development Studies and Dialogue (ACSDSD) as potential platforms through which Pakistan could engage with ASEAN member states, contributing to collective learning on sustainable tourism governance.
