Destination Pakistan

By Amir Zia
Money Matters
The News
Sept 5, 2011

The Commonwealth Business Forum offers a unique platform where the government can reposition the country as an attractive, investment-friendly place

Packaging and selling Pakistan as an investment, trade and business destination at international forums has never been the strength of our successive governments. Whenever we interact with the outside world on global or regional platforms – be it the United Nations, Commonwealth, Organisation of Islamic Conference, or the South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SAARC) – the focus, by and large, remains more on politics or highlighting the protracted conflict of Kashmir with India, rather than the economy.
Permanent state interests, indeed, cannot be ignored and should remain part and parcel of any international engagement, but at the same time Pakistan needs to broaden its canvas and use foreign relations as a tool to advance its economic interests. In today’s competitive, globalised world, both the developed and emerging economies are vying hard to attract investment, the best possible human resource and opening trade and business avenues for their products. However, Pakistan has been found lacking on these fronts due to its lingering political instability, internal conflicts and the war on terrorism – which have held back its enormous economic potential.
The situation has especially been challenging since the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) government took power in 2008 as it not just struggled to give a clear economic vision, but failed even to keep its economic team intact. No wonder, there has been a steady and steep decline in both local and foreign investment as Pakistan’s economy remains stuck in a low growth and high inflation cycle for the last four years after witnessing a robust economic growth of around 7.0 percent from 2001-07.
While on the domestic front, the government needs to take tough decisions in line with the International Monetary Fund’s stalled programme that includes doing away with untargeted subsidies, expanding the tax-base, carrying out power sector reforms and reviving the country’s stalled privatisation programme, on the international front, it needs to aggressively market and sell Pakistan as an investment, trade and business destination.
The coming Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) scheduled for October 25-27 in Perth Australia, offers a unique platform, where the government can reposition Pakistan as an attractive, investor-friendly country and try to refocus the international community’s attention on opportunities here, moving away from the narrow prism of extremism and terrorism.
"The CBF aims to deliver $10 billion in business deals," said Arif Zaman, Commonwealth Business Council’s advisor on South Asia and Corporate Governance. “Pakistan should also aim to get a slice of it.”
The Commonwealth Business Council has sent Zaman, a British national of Pakistani origin, to Pakistan for an extended stay of six months in the build-up to the CBF and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting set for October 28-30.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also plans to participate in the meeting with a high-powered delegation comprising government officials and leaders of the country’s business and corporate world.
“The CBF will provide a unique opportunity for both businesses and governments to learn from more than 100 distinguished speakers and panelists, including heads of governments, finance ministers and businesspeople,” Zaman said.
The forum will allow participants not just to meet and discuss trade, investment and partnership opportunities and prospects, but develop new business leads and identify trade and investment partners, he told Money Matters in an interview.
There will be opportunities to conduct and conclude business deals in one-to-one meetings, build networks, influence the global debate on important trade and investment issues and contribute to policy recommendations to the Commonwealth heads of the government, added Zaman, who has also authored the bestselling briefing on “Reputational Risk” in 2004.
Zaman said that after a long gap Pakistan would participate in the meeting of heads of governments of the Commonwealth as a full-member.
“The good thing is that issues relating to military rule and democracy (in Pakistan) are no longer on the agenda. This creates space to talk about other things, especially the economy and investment.”
After the United Nations, the Commonwealth is the largest grouping of countries, comprising 54 members. It remains the only organisation -- outside the UN itself -- to transcend regional organisations and bring together North and South.
According to a handout of the Commonwealth Business Council, which is organising the CBF, the member countries of this forum now account for 20 percent of world trade and some of the fastest growing economies in the world are part of this association, including Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
“Over four trillion dollars in trade happens every year within the Commonwealth and its combined GDP nearly doubled between 1990 and 2009,” the handout said.
Zaman, who has been meeting government officials and business leaders in Pakistan in an attempt to ensure their maximum participation in the forum, said that Pakistan has been invited to chair a roundtable discussion with key business leader on opportunities in the country.
“This is one of the most supportive developments to have come from the Commonwealth since both Pakistan’s return as a full member in 2008 as well as since the current government in Islamabad took office,” he said.
“A special session on South Asia will bring together the Jang Group and The Times of India to talk about the award-winning Aman ki Asha initiative on Pakistan and India and the progress made by business leaders of both countries.”
The Aman ki Asha initiative was launched by the Jang Group, Pakistan’s biggest media group, and the Times of India Group in January 2010 as a campaign for peace between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India which are uneasy neighbours and have remained locked in a protracted dispute over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir. The two nations have fought three full-scale wars and one mini-war on Kashmir since their independence in 1947.
The peace campaign has evoked huge interest both in the region as well as abroad and helped strengthen peace lobbies in both the countries.
Zaman said that India and Pakistan remain the two biggest member countries of the Commonwealth in terms of population and the association wants to help facilitate efforts for peace at a time when both New Delhi and Islamabad have resumed peace talks.
The Commonwealth document says that the CBF is taking place at a critical time when the developed world continues efforts to secure recovery from the recession and tackle challenges of maintaining open markets and when emerging markets are enjoying a greater prominence on the world stage than ever before.
“At a time of growing interest in emerging markets, Pakistan should not underestimate but underline the opportunities the Commonwealth now provides for making the case and building the community for doing business here… No other forum brings together such diverse countries in order to do business.”
Zaman said that the Commonwealth Business Council looks forward to a significant presence from Pakistan at CBF and remains keen to work with stakeholders to make an intensive and extensive participation at this platform.
According CBF, it presents a unique opportunity for Pakistan on three levels. The first, an opportunity for increased trade and investment between Pakistan and Australia including but not limited to the dairy, infrastructure, energy, mining and education sectors.
The forum also gives Pakistan a chance for increased trade and investment in key Commonwealth markets where the Pakistani companies can leverage existing relationships and reach.
“There is a cost advantage to Pakistan of trading with the Commonwealth that many business people, policy makers and media may not fully realise.”
It also provides an opportunity to build the case for visiting Pakistan and doing business here in the coming months and for people to see for themselves the potential that Pakistan offers in established and emerging sectors and develop business relationships.
“A proposed international investment forum in Bhurban involving the Board of Investment in early December 2011 provides a tangible and early opportunity for Pakistani participants in CBF to extend to people they meet in Australia.”
Zaman said Pakistan never fully leveraged its membership in the Commonwealth. “Pakistan does not have to buy space, but sit in its place. It has got a platform,” he said.
This is an opportunity not only for big businesses, but also for small businesses, including women entrepreneurs and rural representation.”
The Commonwealth forum, undoubtedly, offers the government a chance to bring Pakistan and its economic potential back on the world stage. Let’s hope we make the best use of it.