Pakistan is a country with destiny, Fighting ill-deserved reputational damage: Sardar Masood Khan
WASHINGTON, Nov 03 (SABAH): “The wars of the past 40 years, though necessary at that time for peace and security, have left their scars and distracted Pakistan from its chosen path of economic progress,” said Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sardar Muhammad Masood Khan. “The dark shadows of that period are receding,” he continued. “One of our tasks is to redress this ill-deserved reputational damage done to us and burnish our brand, not by words but by actions,” he added.
Ambassador Masood Khan made these remarks broaching a two-day conference on ‘Resilience and Reform in Pakistan’ organized by South Asia Centre of the renowned US think tank, the Atlantic Council, in partnership with Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies here in Washington DC.
Addressing a jam-packed hall, comprising members of think-tank community, entrepreneurs, opinion makers and media, Masood Khan said that Pakistan is a country with a destiny. “Our geography, our people and our ideals determine that destiny. We have a mission to fulfill and the resolve to go the distance,” he said. “We have outlived many doom and gloom forecasts; and so would we, this time. Our growth ran into headwinds but this year we did not default, kept our economy afloat and brought currency rates and inflation down,” he said. “We rode through the storms of floods and the pandemic. This is resilience,” he added.
Acknowledging the ongoing challenge of multiple transitions, Masood Khan said that he won’t call it a ‘polycrisis’. “Name any state that is not facing excruciating stress in the region and beyond. We are experiencing our share of pain as we evolve.” Highlighting the promising demographic profile and a profitable consumer market of the country that extends to East, Central and West Asia as well as to the Middle East and Africa, the Ambassador noted presence of a strong and dynamic private sector, both formal and informal, which is now buoyed by the tech sector. He said that a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) was established June this year to act as one window for foreign investors to facilitate speedy approval of projects, fast-track project development, and oversee implementation. “The purpose is to spur economic growth, integrate our economy to international capital markets and guarantee continuity of policies,” he said. He identified multibillion mega investment projects from Canada, KSA, UAE and other Gulf countries and said that the country has opened new doors for foreign investment in Pakistan in five sectors: IT, energy, agriculture, mining and defence production.
He also recounted various incentives that were being offered in IT, energy and mining sector in a bid to make the country an attractive destination for investors across the globe. The Ambassador said that tech startups in Pakistan were seeing a dramatic rise.
From a meagre $10 million venture capital funding in 2018 per year, global VCs and other investors are pouring in $1 billion annually now. Total tech startup turnover in the last fiscal year was $3 billion whereas e-commerce in Pakistan earned about $6 billion. “This is just the beginning. Pakistan is not far behind in the tech revolution that has taken off in South East Asia, Middle East and North Africa. The gap is now closing. Pakistan is catching up,” he observed.
He attributed the change to digitization of economy, e-commerce and improved supply chains noting that tech startups have particularly been successful in fintech, retail, pharmacy, diagnostics, telemedicine, education, groceries and transportation. “We are vigorously pursuing institutional reforms for macroeconomic stability, social development, fiscal discipline, absorption of external shocks and improvement in business climate,” said the Ambassador.
He noted that Pakistan was also streamlining its tax system to make it broad-based and equitable in order to finance human development, infrastructure development and climate resilience. “Overarching reforms being undertaken aim to unlock ease of doing business, enforce intellectual property rights, ensure stable payment cycles and accelerate capital formation,” he said. “We will stay the course,” predicted the Ambassador.
Masood Khan said that the country was gearing up to brace technological breakthrough due to Artificial Intelligence and other new technologies namely blockchain, robotics, 3-D printing and synthetic biology. The Ambassador also highlighted the investment portfolio from the United States observing that over past three years, US enterprises have invested more than $1.5 billion in Pakistan. Both sides realize that this level of FDI is not enough and needs to be increased. Highlighting the presence of 80 US companies in Pakistan, he said that US has a standing advantage because of American companies’ experience in Pakistan spanning decades and their existing investment infrastructure in the country.
The Ambassador termed US-Pakistan Green Alliance initiative as groundbreaking which would enable Pakistan to promote renewable energy and make agriculture sustainable and productive. The real question, he said, was not that “is Pakistan investable but how its investments can be scaled up to make it a regional competitor and global economic player,” said the Ambassador.
He thanked Atlantic Council for hosting Second Annual Pakistan Conference and choosing to discuss solutions for elevating Pakistan’s economy and polity to optimal levels. He expressed the hope that informed discussion would help resilient Pakistan prepare for stellar economic growth to attain human security for its people and shared prosperity in its extended neighbourhood.