ADDRESSING the inaugural session of 9th International Maritime Conference, organised by Pakistan Navy in tandem with multinational AMAN exercise, President Arif Alvi presented vision and way forward to acquire benefits from maritime sector saying Pakistan will adopt a responsible strategy on blue economy for sustainable use of ocean resources.
The very concept of blue economy refers to promote usage of ocean resources for economic growth, social inclusion and preservation of livelihoods while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability of oceans and coastal areas. Hence, the President in his address rightly emphasised for better management and protection of ocean resources for the benefit of whole mankind especially to secure the future of coming generations. This responsibility also rests with world community to craft eco-based policies for ocean and coasts.
There is no denying the fact that future belongs to oceans. In our view, maritime is not just a sector but also a parallel economy, where all other sectors of economy cross through it. Luckily Pakistan is blessed with a vast area of ocean with approximately 1,050 km long coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone covering about 240,000 square kilometres. With right kind of approach and required investment, we can turn maritime industry into a profitable venture. Our coastal areas are rich in bio-productivity and bio diversity as they provide huge breeding grounds for commercially important fisheries including crabs and shrimps with a potential resource worth more than $2b annually. It is unfortunate that despite vast fish export potential, our fishing sector only contributes 0.4 percent to country’s GDP. This again signifies how little we are growing regardless having immense potential in this realm which in turn is impeding our growth prospects.
It is a known fact that shipping is the cheapest mode of transportation and this is the reason that most of the world’s trade takes place through this manner.
Given the geo strategic location of Pakistan, we can become a hub of trade in the region and beyond. Multi-billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and development of Gwadar port have provided us an excellent opportunity to tap true potential of blue economy. President Arif Alvi appropriately highlighted the fact that Gwadar port provides shortest route to China and Central Asian States to import and export their goods. Therefore, it is important that a special focus is put into effect for development of this port city on modern lines. This will also pave way for many subsidiary industries like shipyard, ship-breaking, construction, tourism and hotel industry etc. Gaddani in past used to be one of the largest ship breaking industry but now it is placed below those of India and Bangladesh. If this industry is revived in modern lines and utilised to its full potential, it can provide immense job opportunities and contribute billions of dollars annually to national economy.
Then coastal tourism is another industry that shows great promise. The tourists around the world are attracted towards beautiful places especially seacoasts with vast biodiversity and attractive beaches. Our coastal area that starts from Rann of Kutch in Sindh province till Jiwani in Gwadar is full of scenic spots and tourist resorts. It includes diverse range of landscape such as sand beaches, rock cliffs, bays, deltas, islands, mud volcanoes etc. Under the umbrella of CPEC, we also need to develop and promote coastal tourism to attract tourists from far and wide. It is need of the hour that an all-encompassing strategy is evolved with dedicated institutional efforts to tap the full potential of blue economy and efforts should be fast tracked to complete all corridor projects within the given time frame to revitalise the blue growth. This is the only way that will steer Pakistan out of economic crisis and put it on road of sustainable growth and progress.
