What happened
Pakistan and the United States have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly maintain, renovate and redevelop the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, Pakistan’s finance ministry said on Thursday 19 February 2026, Dawn reported.
The ministry said the agreement launched a “strategic economic initiative” that includes collaboration with the US General Services Administration (GSA) on the operation, maintenance, renovation and redevelopment of the century-old hotel. The engagement, it added, was negotiated and stewarded by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff under the leadership of President Donald Trump.
The MoU was executed by GSA Administrator Edward C. Forst for the United States and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb for Pakistan, and was witnessed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Witkoff, according to the ministry statement, The News International reported.
Why it matters
The Roosevelt Hotel is one of Pakistan’s most valuable foreign assets and a central piece of the government’s IMF-backed drive to restructure state-owned property and generate fiscal space. The hotel is owned by the investment arm of Pakistan International Airlines and sits on a prime Midtown Manhattan site near Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and Fifth Avenue. It was acquired by Pakistan in 2000, shut in 2020 after mounting losses, and has also operated briefly as a migrant shelter. Days earlier, the PSX held a gong ceremony to mark PIA’s Rs135 billion privatisation.
The finance ministry said the arrangement establishes a “structured, time-bound framework for joint evaluation of the technical, commercial, and economic parameters of cooperation”. Officials pointed to the complexity of New York’s zoning and municipal procedures, saying that institutional coordination “aims to reduce execution risk, enhance regulatory clarity, and maximize transaction value”.
The ministry said the objective remains to secure maximum value for the property in line with the government’s privatisation strategy while strengthening Pakistan-United States economic ties. Pakistani officials have previously suggested the hotel’s disposal could be worth more than $1 billion.
What is still uncertain
The MoU does not constitute a final transaction; officials said it creates a formal mechanism for due diligence, feasibility assessments and coordination with relevant regulatory bodies in New York. It was also not immediately clear under what authority the GSA — whose stated mandate centres on managing US federal property and procurement — would help facilitate the redevelopment of a foreign state-owned commercial asset.
