Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Tariq Fatemi has said that the conflict in Ukraine was negatively affecting Pakistan’s economy owing to supply chain blockages, rising oil prices, and an impending food crisis.
He gave these remarks while speaking at an eminent speaker series talk on the Russia-Ukraine crisis organised by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) on Monday.
Fatemi expressed his concern about overcoming the expected 3 million tons wheat shortage in the country because of the war in Ukraine, as Russia and Ukraine together contribute a large share to the world’s grain production.
Ambassador Fatemi maintained that like the neighbouring Belarus and unlike the other republics that emerged out of the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, Ukraine had longstanding historical, religious, and cultural links with Russia dating back to 10th century. Therefore, he argued, Moscow had always hoped to have strong relations with Belarus and Ukraine after the independence of the two republics and deemed Western plans to include Ukraine in NATO in breach of their earlier commitments with Russia.
Fatemi was of the view that the Ukrainian army was giving tough resistance to the Russian troops, notwithstanding being largely outnumbered by the latter. The resistance, he added, had dashed Russian hopes of a quick military success. Moreover, with the military intervention in Ukraine, according to Ambassador Fatemi, Russia had caused a rejuvenation of NATO, which was in a disarray prior to that. While agreeing that the Russian economy was not hit as badly by the sanctions as had been anticipated, he maintained that the impact was still quite substantial.
Responding to questions about Sino-US relations, Fatemi stated that Chinese decisionmakers would not be easily provoked over Taiwan. He added that China needed at least another 35 years to achieve its developmental goals and a military conflict over Taiwan was not in its best interest.
Fatemi emphasised the need for the international community to work together to bring an end to the conflict that had brought great pain and suffering to the people of Ukraine and also impacted negatively on global growth and development.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2022.
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