Pakistan, June 10 -- Pakistan is courting investors from Saudi Arabia, China and Turkiye as it moves ahead with the privatization of three state-owned electricity distribution companies, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's office said on Tuesday, marking a key step in the country's efforts to reform its troubled power sector.

The move comes as Pakistan seeks to reduce the financial burden of loss-making state-owned enterprises and address longstanding inefficiencies in the electricity sector, which has been plagued by power theft, transmission losses, weak bill recovery and a growing circular debt crisis. Power-sector reform has been a recurring priority of successive governments and has featured prominently in discussions with the Internati...