Publication Date

1-22-2007

Description

As a young Civil Service office of Pakistan I had the distinct privilege of receiving my training in the Ministry of Finance National Tax Administration Bureau of Japan in 1973. Having observed first hand the strong work ethic, discipline, teamwork and decision making by Consensus. I came back convinced that Pakistan and Pakistanis have a lot to learn from Japan. I have become an active proponent of the policy for Pakistan to look towards East for the simple reason that East Asian Countries and China have benefited a lot by forging close economic collaboration with Japan. The record of this collaboration in respect to Pakistan has been less than satisfactory for a variety of reasons-some of which have to do with Pakistan and others with Japan. Let me first spell out the factors within Pakistan that have not allowed this relationship to flourish. First the country lacked strong leadership with a clear long term strategic vision of the direction in which the economy would move. This coupled with frequent changes in government created an air of uncertainty and unpredictability about Pakistani’s economic direction. The evolution of policy for moving towards East thus remained buried under the debris of day to day crisis management. Second, because of the absence of a long term vision most policy decisions were adhoc-based on short term expediency. The continuity of policy framework would have provided some comfort to the Japanese investors and other foreign investors even if a deliberate shift towards Japan was not carried out. Third, the nuclear bomb testing in 1998, the emergence of Pakistan as a front line state in the war against terrorism and the tension between India and Pakistan enhanced the country risk including heightened concerns for the security and safety of Japanese nationals. Unfortunately the image of Pakistan in the foreign media is highly negative but distorted. This has deterred the Japanese investors from even visiting Pakistan to look at the prospects in the economy.

Notes

Keynote addressed at the Pakistan-Japan dialogue organized by Pakistan-Japan Business Forum at Karachi on January 22, 2007.

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