Most of the conversation in the world has imagined Pakistan as a country associated with traditional security. The Prime Minister’s vision for Pakistan is based on an economic security and human welfare paradigm.
The economic security vision has three pillars: connectivity, development partnerships, and peace within the region and beyond. These views were expressed by the SAPM on National Security Division and Strategic Policy Planning, Dr. Moeed Yusuf, during his keynote address in a webinar titled “Economic Outreach Initiatives and Non-Traditional Security Threats Facing Pakistan.”
During a webinar titled “Economic Outreach Initiatives and Non-Traditional Security Threats Facing Pakistan,” Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr. Moeed Yusuf has expressed the idea that Pakistan is now focusing on economic security.
Dr Moeed Yusuf: Pakistan to focus on economic security
He explained that Pakistan has always been looked at through the lens of traditional security but the government was changing the nation’s priority.
He further explained that the Prime Minister’s vision for Pakistan is based on economic security and human welfare or a ‘welfare state’. The economic security vision has three pillars: connectivity, development partnerships, and peace within the region and beyond.
To achieve this Dr. Moeed Yusuf explained that regional connectivity is an imperative step, and thus Pakistan is focused on CPEC and the peace process in Afghanistan. When it comes to developing partnerships, the dream is for Pakistan to become a melting pot, a hub of interdependence for positive global economic interests.
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Dr. Moeed Yusuf stressed that Pakistan must shift to a model in which economic leverage can be used for political gains and vice versa. The future lies in coordinating economic diplomacy, he maintained.
During the discussion, Dr. Yusuf explained that economic security and military security are intertwined, and one cannot be pursued at the expense of the other.
He outlined the Government’s approach that aims to increase the national resource pie so that the military, in his view grossly under-resourced, can be funded generously.
Earlier this year President Dr Arif Alvi had said that promoting Pakistan as the geo-economic hub should be the country’s vision instead of merely highlighting its strategic location.
In an interview with a private news channel, the president said having land routes and trade linkages across the region, including Iran, Afghanistan, China, and Central Asian states, provide Pakistan a venue to trade goods from China through Gwadar Port.
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He said in the interview that Pakistan had already shifted the Afghan transit trade to Gwadar and the regional trade can be enhanced significantly once peace is restored in Afghanistan.
The president to another query said the development of Gwadar Port would serve as the main connectivity linkage with the Central Asian countries.
GVS News Desk