Pakistan Council on Foreign Relations, Karachi based registered think-tank, organized a seminar on“Pakistan’s Economic Crisis and Foreign Policy Challenges”at a local hotel recently. Dr. Shamshad Akhtar Former Federal Minister of Finance & For-mer Governor State Bank of Pakistan and Ambassador (R) Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry former Foreign Secretary & former Ambassador to the U.S. deliberated on the subject.
Ahsan Mukhtar Zubairi Secretary General PCFR greeted the distinguished guests in his welcome address.
Addressing the audience, Zuberi maintained that since independence Pakistan has faced a number economic challenges including soaring foreign debt, trade deficit, inflation, and depreciating currency.
Ambassador Shahid M Amin, Chairman PCFR high-lighted the significance of the subject in his introductory remarks.
Ambassador Amin said that economy and foreign policy are intrinsically linked with each other. While commenting on foreign policy Ambassador Amin maintained that instead of putting all eggs in one basket we should have multiple foreign policy options.
The former Federal Minister of Finance and former Governor SBP, Dr. Shamshad Akhtar shared her thoughts on “Pakistan’s Economic Challenges: Pre-sent and Future”.She highlighted the challenges Pakistan has been facing on the economic front for last many years.
She stressed upon the need of prudent and skillful economic management to deal with uncertainties and risks Pakistan is exposed to. Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry deliberated on “Pakistan’s Foreign Policy Challenges Amidst Economic Vulnerabilities”.
Ambassador Chaudhry maintained that Pakistan is facing a number foreign policy challenges that in-clude navigating between U.S.-China Rivalry, balancing between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Modi’s India, unstable Afghanistan, and several non-traditional threats. He also highlighted that Pakistan’s economic vulnerabilities have limited the options fordealing with the challenges at foreign policy front. The talks were followed by lively question and answer session. The event was attended by a foreign Consul Generals, businessmen, retired ambassadors, academics, and researchers.
