WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (APP): An economically vibrant Pakistan will be pivot for regional development, so the U.S. and it’s allies must back the country with $100 billion to ease Islamabad’s debt worries and bolster infrastructure,a prominent Pakistani-American business leader said.For it’s part, Pakistan must assign a high priority to ensuring law and order and strive for transparency and good governance to infuse a new momentum into economic growth, Mosadaq Chughtai, who owns businesses both in the United Stats and Pakistan, said.He argued in an interview that at this critical moment, Pakistan needs to take bold new measures as part of the larger effort to stimulate industrial growth and make Pakistani products more competitive in international markets.
“More than anything else, it is a sense of security that matters to investors -I understand some of the problems related to the Afghan war but we cannot wait as other countries are moving forward apace - and we must tighten governance to provoke international intererest in so many potential areas which are awaiting to be explored in Pakistan,” he emphasized.
Chughtai was referring to areas holding out large scale investment promise like energy, water management,infrastructure and industries as well as small and medieum enterprises that strengthen grassroots development and step up bottom-up growth in economies.
Secondly, he noted, Pakistan should roll out a clear plan in it’s internatioal engagement and go for economically-driven approach to foreign relations with major countries like the United States.
“Pakistan is likely to remain a very important strategically located country for regional development as well as for major world powers in the foreseeable future --- Pakistan should say to the United States if we are a critical ally to peace and security in the region, here is what our country needs.
“We have suffered economically and gone through unrest due to war being fought at our doorstep, we need our allies to arrange at least $ 100 billion for our country, $ 60 billion of which will be used to retire debt we owe and the rest of the $ 40 billion would be diverted to boosting energy production and expanding infrastructure facitilies like transport, road and rail networks.”
The entrepreneur, who is one of the directors of the Pakistani
American Leadeship Center, an advocacy group working on the Capitol Hill, felt the Pakistani government should assure the world that it would maintain transparency in the use of such funds and involve them in the process.
On the need for bold new measures, Chughtai proposed that Pakistan waive off duties on import of all machinery which is new and not older than two years, as inflow of modern technology would bolster production, enhance skills of workforce and quickly raise the quality of products and this way add tremendously to the volume of exports.
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکِستان) is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west,India in the east and China in the far northeast.[7] Tajikistan also lies very close to Pakistan but is separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor. Strategically, Pakistan is located in a position between the important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the greater Middle East.[8]
The region forming modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures including theneolithic Mehrgarh and the bronze era Indus Valley Civilisation. Subsequently it was the recipient of Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, and Sikh cultures through several invasions and/or settlements. As a result the area has remained a part of numerous empires and dynasties including the Indian empires, Persian empires, Arab caliphates, Mongol,Mughal, Sikh and British Empire. Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire in 1947 after a struggle for independence, led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, that sought the partition of India and the creation of an independent state for the Muslim majority populations of the eastern and western regions of British India.[9] With the adoption of its constitution in 1956, Pakistan became an Islamic republic.[10] In 1971, an armed conflict in East Pakistan resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.[11]
Pakistan is a federal parliamentary republic consisting of four provinces and four federal territories. With over 170 million people, it is the sixth most populous country in the world[2] and has the second largest Muslim population after Indonesia.[12] It is an ethnically andlinguistically diverse country with a similar variation in its geography and wildlife. With a semi-industrialized economy, it is the 27th largest in the world in terms of purchasing power. Since gaining independence, Pakistan's history has been characterised by periods of military rule,political instability and conflicts with neighbouring India. The country faces challenging problems including terrorism, poverty, illiteracy and corruption.
Pakistan has the seventh largest standing armed force and is the only Muslim-majority nation to possess nuclear weapons. It is designated as a major non-NATO ally of the United States and a strategic ally of China.[13][14] It is a founding member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation)[15] and a member of the United Nations,[16] Commonwealth of Nations,[17] Next Eleven economies and the G20 developing nations.
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