ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on NationalSecurity and Strategic Policy Planning, Dr Moeed Yusuf Wednesday said thePrime Minister’s vision for Pakistan was based on an economic security andhuman welfare paradigm.
The economic security vision had three pillars: connectivity, developmentpartnerships and peace within the region and beyond whereas most of theconversation in the world had imagined Pakistan as a country associatedwith traditional security, he said.
These views were expressed by the SAPM on National Security Division andStrategic Policy Planning, Dr. Moeed Yusuf, during his keynote address in awebinar titled “Economic Outreach Initiatives and Non-Traditional SecurityThreats Facing Pakistan,” said a press release.
Dr Yusuf said that connectivity was a key objective and that was whyPakistan focused on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and peace inAfghanistan.
“When it comes to development partnerships, the dream is for Pakistan tobecome a melting pot, a hub of interdependence for positive global economicinterests.”
Dr. Moeed Yusuf stressed that Pakistan should shift to a model in whicheconomic leverage could be used for political gains and vice versa.
The future lies in coordinating economic diplomacy, he maintained. Duringthe discussion, Dr Yusuf explained that economic security and militarysecurity were intertwined, and one could not be pursued at the expense ofthe other.
He outlined the Government’s approach that aimed to increase the nationalresource pie so that the military, in his view grossly under resourced,could be funded generously.
Explaining the objective of the Economic Outreach Initiative (EOI) beingled by the Prime Minister, Dr. Yusuf said that the aim was maximizingPakistan’s potential and increase dollar inflows.
He said the exercise had identified an additional $30 billion pluspotential of foreign exchange earnings.
The SAPM was of the view that Pakistan was looking forward to working withthe Biden administration. But our main effort was to change the nature ofthe conversation with the US, and it would be centered on Pakistan being aneconomic base to maximize our economic potential.
“We also need to explain to the US that India has become a liability forthem and an agent of destabilization in a nuclear region.”
Speaking on the role of think tanks and policy-making, Dr Moeed Yusuf saidthat NSD would soon launch a think tank portal soon so that input fromintellectual capital available outside the government could be streamlinedinto the policy-making discourse.
The webinar was well-attended by experts from both Pakistan and abroad.