Vienna, February 16,2026: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif met with the Federal Chancellor of Austria, Christian Stocker, at the Federal Chancellery in Vienna’s historic Hofburg Palace on Monday, where he was accorded a guard of honour.
Upon arrival, Prime Minister Shehbaz was received by Chancellor Stocker and later signed the Guest Book. The two leaders first held a restricted one-on-one meeting, followed by delegation-level talks.
The Pakistani delegation included Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi, and Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch.
Both sides recalled the longstanding friendly relations between Pakistan and Austria and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening cooperation across a wide range of sectors, including economic collaboration, trade and investment, tourism, hospitality, education, information technology, healthcare, human resource development, and mobility. They agreed to expedite the finalization of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) currently under consideration in these areas.
Exchanging views on regional and global developments, the two leaders underscored the central role of the United Nations in addressing challenges related to peace and security, peaceful dispute resolution, sustainable development, climate action, and the promotion and protection of human rights. They reiterated their shared commitment to multilateralism and appreciated mutual support for each other’s candidatures in international forums, while pledging to work with the broader international community to strengthen the UN system.
Prime Minister Shehbaz and Chancellor Stocker also co-chaired a CEOs’ forum comprising leading Austrian and Pakistani companies operating in renewable energy, energy efficiency, industrial manufacturing, construction, IT, textiles, surgical instruments, leather and sports goods, healthcare, tourism and hospitality, as well as food and agro-industries. Both sides agreed to expand government-to-government (G2G), government-to-business (G2B), and business-to-business (B2B) engagements through effective utilization of existing platforms.
The Prime Minister invited Austrian businesses to participate in the upcoming EU-Pakistan Business Forum scheduled to be held in Islamabad in April. He thanked Chancellor Stocker for the productive and meaningful discussions during the visit and extended an invitation to him to undertake an official visit to Pakistan at his earliest convenience.
