ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Pavilion is a “global crowd-puller” at the World Expo 2025 that opened in Osaka, Japan, on Sunday, with an official statement saying crowds were lining up to visit “one of the most unique pavilions” on site.

Expo 2025 Osaka was officially inaugurated by Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Sunday with the theme of life, world and the future, with Tokyo hoping that the event will help restore global unity in a world plagued by conflicts and trade wars. Pakistan’s national pavilion features a design inspired by the country’s iconic salt mines amid a broader effort to promote exports of the globally popular pink salt.

During the six-month event on the reclaimed island and industrial waste burial site of Yumeshima, which means dream island, in the Osaka Bay, the city is hosting some 180 countries, regions and organizations showcasing their futuristic exhibits inside of about 80 pavilions of unique designs.

It is Osaka’s second world expo after the 1970 event that scored a huge success and attracted 64 million visitors — a record until Shanghai in 2010.

“Pakistan offers something refreshingly grounded. Here, visitors don’t just look— they run their hands across majestic pink rock salt formations, feel the textures, and reconnect with nature in a way that’s rare in today’s fast-paced world,” the official Instagram page for the Pakistan Pavilion said.

Aligned with the Expo’s theme, “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” the Pakistan pavilion “reimagines progress through the lens of harmony with the earth.” 

The pavilion’s design, inspired by the Khewra Salt Mines in Pakistan’s Punjab province, incorporates a tranquil “salt garden” meant to offer visitors a multi-sensory experience reflecting both the country’s natural beauty and economic potential. The Pakistani salt mines are among the oldest and largest in the world, renowned for producing pink Himalayan salt, which is prized worldwide for its distinctive color and health benefits.

Pakistan also seeks to export more of its products by leveraging platforms such as the Osaka Expo.

“This pavilion belongs to all of you,” Muhammad Naseer, Project Director of the Pakistan Pavilion, said while addressing the soft launch of the pavilion earlier this month. “Your stories, contributions, and connection to Pakistan are part of this journey.”

“Over the next months, this space will be a place of discovery, dialogue, and celebration, where we invite the world to experience Pakistan’s culture, innovation, and aspirations.” 

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday called on the Taliban authorities in Kabul to prevent militant groups from using Afghan soil to launch attacks against Pakistan, warning such militant violence threatened regional stability and would not be tolerated.
Speaking to reporters in London after concluding a two-day official visit to Belarus, Sharif reiterated Pakistan had repeatedly urged the Afghan interim government to uphold its commitments under the 2020 Doha Agreement, which called for preventing armed groups from operating on Afghan territory.
“We have always said Afghanistan is a neighboring and brotherly country,” his office quoted him as saying in a statement after the media interaction. “As neighbors, we have to live together — the choice is whether to do so peacefully or through conflict.”
Sharif said Pakistan had sent several messages to Kabul, emphasizing that Afghan soil must not be used for militancy under any circumstances.
“But unfortunately, the TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan], ISKP [Islamic State Khorasan Province] and other terrorist outfits continue to operate from there and have martyred innocent Pakistani civilians,” he added.
The prime minister vowed the sacrifices made by Pakistan’s civilians and armed forces would not go in vain, adding that the Afghan authorities should take immediate action against militant groups.
“My sincere advice to Afghanistan is to rein in these terrorist organizations at once and not allow them to use Afghan land under any circumstances,” he said.
Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have risen in recent years following a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan’s western provinces bordering Afghanistan.
Islamabad blames the TTP, a banned outfit ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban, for orchestrating cross-border violence from safe havens inside Afghanistan — a charge the Taliban administration has repeatedly denied.
Amid the bitterness between the two countries, Pakistan has deported hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghan nationals since late 2023, citing security concerns while prompting criticism from rights groups and calls for dialogue from Kabul.