US Congressman Tom Suozzi has announced that he will hold a major conference in March 2026 to encourage investment in Pakistan.
“Well, we have to discuss the different issues and try to encourage investment in Pakistan from the United States and the rest of the diaspora,” Suozzi, the Co-Chair of the Pakistani Caucus in the US Congress, told Geo News after addressing an event in New York.
Thanks to Field Marshal Asim Munir’s unprecedented meeting with US President Donald Trump and subsequent engagements of the American commander-in-chief with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, the US-Pakistan relationship is continuously heading on an upward trajectory.
“By now, people feel comfortable investing in Pakistan; we need to encourage investment from other countries, especially America, into Pakistan,” Suozzi said after attending the American-Pakistani Public Affairs Committee annual gala.
He also advocated for an independent arbitration board to resolve disputes. To Suozzi, such a board will make it easier for foreign businesspersons to safely invest in Pakistan.
The Democratic Congressman, who represents New York’s 3rd District in the House of Representatives, on a number of occasions has gone the extra mile to express solidarity with Pakistan.
During recent floods, Suozzi and his Co-Chair of the Congressional Pakistan Caucus, Jack Bergman, penned a bipartisan letter to Secretary Marco Rubio for an urgent briefing on the US response to the catastrophic floods in Pakistan and India.
In April 2025, Suozzi made history as the first US Congressman to visit the Kartarpur Corridor. He had called the place “a powerful symbol of peace, unity, and reconciliation.”
During that visit, Suozzi had also noted the plight of brick-kiln workers in Punjab. According to the Pulitzer Center, there are “around 20,000 brick kilns, 3.5–4 million bonded labourers” in rural areas of Pakistan.
Addressing the gala, Suozzi told the audience that he had written a letter to Punjab’s chief minister in this regard. He stressed that this “historical problem” should be addressed, where people are stuck “generation after generation to pay the debt.”
“The mechanisation and modernisation of this critical sector will not only support Pakistan in fulfilling its international obligations to end bonded labour but also position Punjab as a more attractive destination for foreign direct investment, particularly from American businesses committed to ethical and sustainable engagement,” the Congressman reminded Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz, and expressed readiness to work with her in resolving this issue.
In his keynote address, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, stressed strengthening economic ties between the two countries by seizing the moment.
“The relationship over the past 78 years has seen its ups and downs. It might have been best, might have been bad. But it has never, never, never, ever been so good-looking as it is right now. But again, let me, as ambassador, tell you it is only good-looking. We have to make good on it. We have to grab this opportunity. We have to make it happen.”
Ambassador Sheikh declared that in two decades, Pakistan will become the third-most populated country and the United States will be the fourth.
“Good and strong relations between the third and the fourth most densely populated countries in the world are not a matter of choice or selection or ifs and buts or likes or dislikes. It’s a compulsion. It’s an imperative.”
He stressed that American-Pakistanis should take a leading role in US politics, for they have already established themselves as a vibrant and affluent community. Across the United States of America, the general average income is $64,000, while Pakistanis are in the $76,000 bracket.
“It was mentioned here that the Pakistani-American community does not need Botox. Let me say that it could perhaps do with some detox, which APAC has managed by removing the divides and differences between the community, removing the toxics and bringing the community together,” remarked Rizwan Saeed Sheikh while pointing at Dr Pervaiz Iqbal.
New York Deputy Speaker Phil Ramos lauded APPAC’s role in the nursing initiative that has resulted in the approval of 15 National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) centres in Pakistan. He said that this “milestone” will help thousands of nurses get jobs in the United States.
Senator Cory Booker lauded APPAC’s role in the “appointment of American-Pakistani Zahid Qureshi as the first Muslim American Federal Judge in the history of the United States of America.”
A number of other Congresspersons and state representatives, including Congressman André Carson, Ilhan Omar, Dr Shama Haider and Jenifer Rajkumar, also spoke on the occasion.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and State Attorney General Letitia James were represented by Director of Muslim American Affairs Mamadou Sire Bah and Director of Muslim Outreach Mohammad Mohsin Awais, who lauded the role of American-Pakistanis in various fields.
In his concluding remarks, Chairman APPAC Dr Ijaz Ahmad said, “Our mission is representation, dignity and opportunity. Our mission is to ensure that our children and generations after them walk with pride, not fear.”