Karachi, often referred to as the Gateway to Pakistan, is a bustling port city spread out along the Arabian Sea coastline and located north-west of the Indus River Delta. As the city with the largest population in Pakistan, and the most educated, Karachi has also become known as a city that never sleeps. It is a very dense place filled with European, Central Asian and Middle Eastern inhabitants and the second largest Muslim city in the world. Home to Pakistan’s largest corporations, it is also the country’s center for banking, industry, economic activity and trade. The largest port in Pakistan, the Port of Karachi, and the nearby Port Qasim handle not only imports and exports for Pakistan, but serve Afghanistan and the landlocked Central Asian countries as well. With several large industry zones, the city has recently seen an expansion in the fields of information and communications technology as well as electronic media and has become the software outsourcing hub of Pakistan.

Houston is home to a dynamic Pakistani community and the connections between the two cities continue to grow. The Houston-Karachi Sister City Association (HKSCA) is an inclusive organization, whose sole focus is to promote peace through mutual respect, understanding, & cooperation. Since their inception in 2009, they have undertaken several successful projects, including a program that helped sponsor a water pump that provides clean drinking water to over 60,000 people daily.

The sister city association also takes part in the annual Houston IFTAR Dinner, which is organized by a coalition of the 5 sister city organizations that have Muslim populations. This year, the 2016 dinner was hosted by Mayor Sylvester Turner.