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Article

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Gulf States: Pakistan has enjoyed very friendly relations with the Gulf States. The first generation of Emirates rulers were very favourably disposed towards Pakistan as they received a lot of cooperation in their journey towards the modernization of the country. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have absorbed a large number of Pakistani workers in their labour force and are the two top sources of remittances. The UAE is one of the major trading partners and Saudi Arabia and Kuwait suppliers of petroleum products and crude oil while Qatar has long-term contracts for LNG. These countries have been coming to Pakistan’s rescue whenever it has been struck with balance of payments crises. However, the future relationship, to be dependable and sustained, has to be recalibrated so it is not perceived as a one-way street. Both UAE and Qatar in their recent dialogue with Pakistani authorities have expressed the desire to invest or acquire projects in Pakistan rather than provide cash, commodities or place deposits. These states have plans to invest $22 billion in Egypt which has also been a traditional recipient of Gulf States’ aid flows. The same ought to be our new strategy too; it would create assets and expand the country’s productive capacity while retaining the interests of our partner countries. Saudi Arabia had announced in 2019 that they would set up an oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Gwadar but even after three years progress on this project is not visible. Bureaucratic red tape, convoluted and time consuming procedures and coordination failures among the federal and provincial governments have been the main stumbling blocks. The mindset of politicians and civil servants has to change dramatically – from finding faults with proposals from foreign or domestic investors to being facilitators and enablers.

Publication Source

The News

Publication Date

10-28-2022

Pages

1-3

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