Editorial

Support from Qatar

The only hitch in extending ties with Qatar remains the close ties govt has worked to develop with Riyadh, Abu Dhabi

Editorial June 25, 2019

As part of the attempts to replenish the depleted coffers, the government has managed to woo Qatar into providing it with an immediate cash injection of $3 billion, with a partnership which could rise to $9 billion. For what it is worth, the amount of foreign cash raised by the government, currently standing at $16 billion, is quite impressive, apart from the $6 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The government efforts to secure such foreign injection in such a short period from countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, China, Malaysia and now Qatar are quite commendable. Moreover, these are not simply one-time transactions, rather are the bedrock of continuing engagement and bilateral ties. What is more, it is that all the countries which have been asked for help are regional countries. This augurs well for eventually developing a regional trade network.

Specific to Qatar, the government has moved to sign three memorandums of understanding on setting up a joint working group on trade and investment, tourism and financial intelligence with regard to money laundering. Moreover, the government will move to extend its visa-free regime to tourists from Qatar. Doha, on the other hand, has agreed to lift a ban on importing rice from Pakistan — a major export.

The only hitch in extending ties with Qatar remains the close ties Islamabad has worked hard to develop with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi over the past year. Key members of the Saudi and Emirati royal families have also visited Pakistan during that time. Both of these countries have tense relations with Qatar. This has, thus, places Pakistan in a very tough spot. Islamabad will have to walk a very fine line to keep countries on both sides of that conflict happy. Of course, once it can do that and find comfort zones, it can even push to broker peace between them, though that station still appears to be quite a way off.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2019.

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