A delegation of journalists from Uzbekistan visited National Science and Technology Park at NUST to learn more about Pakistan’s technology, startup, and innovation landscape, part of a broader seven-day visit by a 10-member Uzbek media delegation invited by the Government of Pakistan to strengthen bilateral relations, media cooperation, and people-to-people contacts between the two countries. The delegation, comprising prominent television personalities, digital content creators, YouTubers, and social media figures, has spent its visit receiving briefings across public and private sector institutions, with earlier stops including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan Television, and private news channels including SAMAA News and HUM News, making the NSTP visit a distinct technology and innovation focused leg within a broader itinerary otherwise centered on diplomatic and media sector engagement.
The visit to NSTP was hosted by Yaruq Nadeem, senior manager for innovation, who briefed the delegation on the park’s incubation programs, research initiatives, and the broader work being carried out across the facility. Bringing international journalists directly into NSTP rather than confining their exposure to Pakistan’s diplomatic and broadcast media institutions gives Uzbek audiences a window into a dimension of Pakistan’s development story that the delegation’s earlier stops did not directly cover, extending the visit’s narrative beyond politics and traditional media into technology and entrepreneurship specifically.
The visit included an overview of NSTP’s resident companies and programs, highlighting the role the park plays in connecting startups, research, industry, and investment opportunities, a briefing format that mirrors similar showcases NSTP has run for other visiting delegations, including tours of high-growth tech enterprises and early-stage ventures under its Hatch 8 incubator. For journalists tasked with reporting back to audiences in Uzbekistan, direct exposure to functioning startups and incubation infrastructure offers more concrete material than a purely institutional briefing, giving them tangible examples of Pakistan’s innovation ecosystem to reference in their coverage.
The visit also provided an opportunity to exchange views on technology and innovation in Pakistan and Uzbekistan, extending a bilateral relationship that has recently included talks between the two countries on expanding cooperation in digital technologies, artificial intelligence, IT services exports, and startup ecosystem connections. Media delegations of this kind, when paired with direct visits to functioning innovation infrastructure like NSTP, can lay informal groundwork for the kind of people-to-people familiarity that later formal cooperation agreements often build upon, extending Pakistan’s broader diplomatic outreach into its technology and startup ecosystem specifically.
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