Pak-US summit dividend

Prime Minister Imran Khan has had an excellent visit to Washington. The Premier’s straight speaking, his charm and charisma, and his personal comportment — with no extravagant shopping sprees or fancy hotels — have led to a very positive relationship with one of the most difficult and troublesome leaders in the Western world, President Donald John Trump. Well done, Mr Khan!

This summit, like all summits, is only a door opener — a first step. There are difficult and complex issues on the table and it will be up to the teams on both sides to follow through on the broad strategies agreed by the two heads of government. Among the more complex issues will be that of Afghanistan. We will have to play a key role is helping the United States end its 18-year-long war in the country that borders ours, and this will require us to tread a delicate and difficult path between the United States, the Taliban and the government in Kabul, led by President Ashraf Ghani. However, the prize at the end of that road — a peaceful and friendly Afghanistan and a grateful Untied States — is worth the effort.

An equally complex issue relates to new funding and investments that are likely to materialise as a result of the Imran-Trump summit. This “summit dividend” will partly come from increased aid-flows. However, if the right policies and actions are put in place, these aid flows could be dwarfed by private investments which could easily approach or even exceed the funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and donations from friendly countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and China.



To understand what needs to be done, let’s start from the fact that China and the United States are linked with one another by large and complex supply chains. American companies, from Apple to solar energy producers, need Chinese-manufactured components; while China needs American technology for its increasingly sophisticated manufacturing sector and American agriculture supplies to meet its feed and food requirements. These supply chains are at risk due to trade-related tensions between the two countries.

Pakistan is well set up to help both these countries and, in doing so, help ourselves. There is a tremendous opportunity to get American and Chinese companies to create new partnerships in Pakistan, setting up fully-owned or joint-venture production and trading enterprises. But in order to do this, we will have to work really very hard. We will need to engage with Chinese manufacturers and US technology companies, as well as agriculture input suppliers, processors, wholesalers and supermarket chains from both the US and China. We will need to understand their needs and requirements and on this basis review our legislative and regulatory systems, adjust our tax and revenue systems, and make the necessary infrastructural investments.

This is a fantastic opportunity — almost too good to miss. We really need to step up our game and walk through the door that Prime Minister Imran Khan has opened for us.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1^st, 2019.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.