By Naveed Miraj
Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir’s maiden visit to the two brotherly countries — Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — has proved to be very significant and successful given the announcements of financial support to Pakistan.
The top leadership of both countries was generous enough to understand the financial woes of Pakistan. This really indicates that the Army Chief was on a special mission, one which was confined not only to promoting the already strong defense cooperation but also to giving impetus to the economic relations in order to salvage the country from imminent default.
Indeed, the military establishment cannot stay aloof from the current situation especially, on the economic front as it is a known and often-repeated fact that national security cannot be separated from the economy, and both are interconnected. And when the Army Chief was undertaking the visit to the two Gulf countries, the situation was that the country’s foreign exchange reserves had dipped to a record low level and was hardly in a position to meet one month’s imports.
Concerns were also being expressed that the country will not be able to meet its external debt liabilities. Hence, in this context, the very concerns and efforts of the new Army Chief to save the country’s economy are appreciable and need to be acknowledged widely by all and sundry.
Just like in Saudi Arabia, the Army Chief received a warm welcome in the United Arab Emirates too where he held a productive meeting with the UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Qasr Al Shati Palace and discussed a broad range of issues including cooperation in different sectors. “We believe this meeting laid the ground for the UAE’s announcement of rolling over Pakistan’s 2 billion dollars loan and an additional 1 billion dollars in loan. This certainly will provide some breathing space to Pakistan and avert the threat of default, at least, in the short term.
The economic lifeline provided by the KSA and the UAE will in fact also encourage the IMF to complete the ninth review with less tough conditions and if the international lender releases the next tranche, the country will also be able to secure finances from other financial institutions such as World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
The very visit by the Army Chief to KSA and the UAE will have far-reaching results in building a strong economic bilateral partnership. The same is visible in the joint statement issued after talks between the President of the UAE and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in which both sides agreed to intensify consultation and coordination to strengthen strategic partnership and cooperation, particularly in the field of information and communication technologies.
This is the first time that cooperation in the digital and IT arena has been emphasized which will be a win-win, given the huge human resource of Pakistan and the UAE’s focus on adopting the latest technology.
Whilst the Army Chief has done his work, the responsibility now rests with the civilian government to take forward the relationship in the right direction which steers the country from this debt trap once and for all.
The business communities and chambers of commerce of both countries need to engage more with each other in order to explore investment opportunities in their respective countries. In the last few decades, the UAE has made the exceptional economic transformation and infrastructural developments and Pakistan can learn a lot from their experiences.
