Renowned analyst Aamir Ghauri says Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s successful visit to Qatar and agreement on billions of dollars of financing from the peninsular country as well as Saudi Arabia is a clear manifestation of trust and confidence on incumbent government.
In an exclusive interview with News and Current Affairs Channel of Radio Pakistan, he said supply of oil on deferred payments and placing of hard currency deposits by these countries in Pakistan is in addition to the investments they are going to make.
The senior analyst said these developments are being closely monitored by other countries also who will get a message to invest their capital in Pakistan.
Aamir Ghauri said former Prime Minister Imran Khan maligned the image of Pakistan at the international forums by saying that the country was rampant with corruption and institutions were destroyed.
In this backdrop it was very difficult to restore the image of Pakistan and regain the confidence of international investors, which is a big achievement of the current government.
He said this will lead to start of a process in which many other countries will like to invest in Pakistan.
He gave the example of car industry in which many more investors have come to the country apart from traditional Japanese car makers.
Aamir Ghauri said the purpose of getting international financing is to support Pakistan’s dwindling foreign reserves and boost the country’s economy.
He expressed hope that IMF’s tranche will be released soon and it will have yet another major impact on Pakistan’s financial position as it will also open the doors to financing from other multilateral financial bodies.
Giving the backdrop of the efforts of PML-N led coalition government to stabilize the economy, Aamir Ghauri said the government soon after coming into power started negotiations with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi to enhance economic cooperation and get support for the weak economy of the country.
He said the Qatari government played a key role and worked on strategy to take the Pakistani economy out of crisis. The Qatari ambassador in Islamabad played a key role and within weeks arranged talks of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with Qatari Emir.
He explained that they had some pre-conditions that Pakistan must resolve its issues with the IMF by adhering to terms of the monetary body so that there is no violation of international monetary system when financing is provided by these friendly countries.
Aamir Ghauri said the Prime Minister visited Qatar to finalize the talks as well as to elicit direct Qatari foreign investment into the country in diverse sectors.
He said the Prime Minister met with Qatari Investment Authority officials as well as heads of business associations of the peninsular country.
He said we have deep rooted ties with the Gulf countries as millions of Pakistanis have been working there, earning and sending valuable foreign exchange back home.
He said long term relations are more important than just an announcement of aid to Pakistan.
The Senior Analyst said Pakistan also reciprocates in various ways to its Arab brethren in hour of need.
Source: Radio Pakistan