Pakistan is trying to bring Apple into the country, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expected to meet Apple CEO Tim Cook in the United States as part of efforts to attract the tech giant’s manufacturing or assembly operations.

The Engineering Development Board (EDB) CEO shared the development while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication.

He said 37 companies are currently manufacturing mobile phones in Pakistan and have produced more than 35 million handsets so far.

According to the official, Apple is the only major smartphone company that has yet to establish phone manufacturing in Pakistan. The government is now seeking to change that by encouraging the company to set up local assembly or production.

The EDB CEO said Shehbaz Sharif is expected to meet Tim Cook during his visit to the United States, with Apple’s possible entry into Pakistan expected to be among the issues discussed.

The committee welcomed the expansion of domestic mobile-phone production but stressed that Pakistan should further increase local manufacturing.

Committee Chairman Syed Amin Ul Haq said locally produced phones should be affordable while maintaining good quality. He also called for a shift toward manufacturing 4G and 5G devices instead of older 3G handsets.