Pakistan is trying it’s best to build up positives and minimise negatives through foreign policy tools
KARACHI: Pakistan’s relations with neighbouring and regional countries have entered into a new phase in recent past due to Pakistan’s change of focus from political relations to strong economic ties. The raison de’tre of this transformation is that economy is the only major element in determining national power of a country at the international level after the Second World War. Though Pakistan does not enjoy good relations with India due to India’s inflexible attitude towards resolution of the Kashmir issue, its bond with China, Russia, CARs, Iran and Turkey is much stronger than ever. The $46 billion project — CPEC — is the game changer for the whole region yet other projects like IPI and Central Asia-South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Programme (CASA-1000) are also worth mentioning. CASA is a project worth $1.17 billion and it has seven financiers: the World Bank (through the International Development Association, IDA), the European Investment Bank, the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, the Islamic Development Bank; the United States Government, the UK Department for International Development, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It is the first step towards regional electricity market based on mutual benefit of the Central Asian Republics, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The inclusion of Afghanistan in this project will create stability in Afghanistan by improving transportation, industry and telecommunication system and ultimately a stable Afghanistan will be beneficial for Pakistan. This project will remove the energy shortfall of Pakistan and Afghanistan which is creating hindrance in the way of socio-economic development of both countries. No doubt, Pakistan is trying it’s best to build up positives and minimise negatives through foreign policy tools yet a lot is needed to be done to tackle internal issues adeptly.
Nazia Jabeen
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2017.
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