International Relations – What’s in it for the Common Man?

By Sadaf Rasheed

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has made headlines in the international press after becoming Pakistan’s youngest Foreign Minister. His frequent visits to multiple countries during this short period of time have won him applause from the experts but the opposition and its mouthpieces in media has criticized him for what they call “too many foreign trips”. Can there be too many foreign trips by a country’s Foreign Minister whose job is to build, rebuild and enhance relations with other countries?

If someone analyzes the history of PPP governments, it becomes evident that Mr Zardari is not doing something new. PPP governments in the past initiated a robust and enhanced process of global engagement based on the principles of equality, respect and mutuality of interest and benefit.

Shaheed Mohtarma BB, during her visit to Cairo in 1994 said,“I dream of a Pakistan, of an Asia, of a world, where we can commit our social resources to the development of human life, and not to its destruction.”

PPP’s 2018 Manifesto states,“Pakistan must step forward and rationally create the framework for a proactive foreign policy that is designed to maximise our benefits while maintaining the best possible relations with all other countries.”

“We envision a Pakistan that is regionally, geographically and globally connected.”

Mr Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is continuing the PPP’s policy of maintaining good relations with other countries around the globe.

Now a question arises here why a political party that takes pride in being pro-poor takes so much interest in international relations. Chairman PPP Mr Bilawal Bhutto Zardari answered this question while speaking at an event to announce the party’s manifesto for the 2018 general elections. He said,“Foreign policy should be rooted in economic diplomacy” Like people, countries cannot prosper while working in silos. International co-operation is essential for the prosperity of a country, region and entire world. The economic and social development of a nation is directly proportional to the degree of its foreign relations. International trade, export & import strengthen the economy which in turn helps in poverty alleviation. Apart from economic implications, the effect of having good international relations can be seen in the social sector. When any country falls into natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, and diseases, other countries play their role to help lessen the effect of devastation. The control of polio and COVID-19 virus shows that through global cooperation countries can overcome any problem. Training of human resources, introduction of the latest technologies in agriculture, industries, and medical science, all require having strong relations with other nations.

So what has PPP achieved for a common man through its foreign policy? Be it the period of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto or Mr Asif Ali Zardari, PPP governments have actively pursued foreign relations with other countries which resulted in strengthening of the economy, creation of jobs, development of infrastructure, educational and health institutions, thereby uplifting Pakistan’s common man.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto initiated foreign relations with the then Soviet Union when he was the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. It was the fruits of his efforts that in 1961, the Soviet Union gave a loan of 27 million Rubles to Pakistan for oil and gas exploration, which later enabled the establishment of an oil and gas development organization in Pakistan. So, the contribution of OGDCL to the development of Pakistan can be attributed to ZAB’s foreign policy.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took reins of a country in anarchic conditions, this undeveloped and war-shattered Pakistan was facing an international economic crisis. As soon as ZAB took the oath, he started visiting different countries to strengthen Pakistan’s ties with the international world. His foreign policy paid dividends and the world came to rescue Pakistan from difficult conditions by investing in different sectors. The economic cooperation from China, the Soviet Union, Iran, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E. and Libya are worth mentioning which resulted in the establishment of fertilizer plants, an oil refinery, Port Qasim, the Heavy Mechanical Complex, the Heavy Foundry and Forge near Taxila, self-sufficiency in wheat production, roads infrastructure, hospitals, educational institutes, nuclear reprocessing plant and the steel mill. All these projects led to the creation of hundreds of thousands of job opportunities and the reduction of poverty in Pakistan.

Moreover, the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto persuaded the Gulf countries to encourage both skilled and unskilled men from Pakistan to work there. In 1979, it was estimated that the Pakistani workforce in the Middle East lay somewhere around one million. Remittances sent by the migrants not only helped in building the country’s foreign exchange reserves and in providing a balance of payment support, which thus contributed to greater economic development but also provided necessary income support to their families. Similarly, when Shaheed BB came to power, she visited Iran, Turkey, China, US, UK, Switzerland, Korea, France, and Germany, among other countries, to convince business leaders of the viability of investing in Pakistan and to stress the potential for lucrative returns that such investment offers. SMBB succeeded in bringing Pakistan into the modern era. She brought fiber optic technology, cellular phones, and Internet technology to Pakistan. By early 1994, Telecom Australia started working on a $40 million contract to lay fiber optic cable from Karachi to Islamabad. During the same time, other foreign telecommunications companies, including Alcatel, Siemens, Ericsson, and Cable and Wireless had also begun installing digital communications networks in the Sindh, Punjab, and KP provinces. By mid-1994, 5430 telex lines had been installed, and a cellular mobile telephone system had been introduced.

Today, Pakistan has an IT industry with more than 12000 IT Companies and exports crossing the $2 billion figure. It contributes around 7 per cent of Pakistan’s GDP and employs hundreds of thousands of professionals. The growth of the IT industry is only possible because the PPP government was able to sell the idea of investing in Pakistan to foreign investors.

In addition to technology, the PPP government led by SMBB succeeded in attracting investment worth billions of dollars into Pakistan’s energy and power generation sector. In 1996, Benazir Bhutto laid the foundation stone of the Thar Coal power project. It has now become a success story of public-private partnership. Considering the load shedding, people are facing nowadays, there is no need of explaining the importance of power generation to common people, leave alone industries. Apart from power generation from this project, coal mining is playing a significant role in economic growth and poverty alleviation by providing thousands of jobs to the locals. In the infrastructure sector, Benazir Bhutto’s government signed a memorandum of understanding with the South Korean conglomerate Daewoo in which the latter pledged to implement $2 billion worth of projects, including the construction of a $730 million, 315km motorway between Lahore and Islamabad, Pakistan’s first motorway. After taking oath as President of Pakistan, Mr Asif Ali Zardari conducted his first-ever diplomatic visit as president of the country to China to follow up on the strong relations developed with the friendly country by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. He followed it up with many more visits to present his idea of multi-billion dollars China Pakistan Economic Corridor. This project is termed a “Game changer” for Pakistan. It is estimated that this project will create 800,000 direct jobs in the next 10 to 15 years. This project is expected to add more than $60 million to Pakistan’s economy and thousands of megawatts of energy to the national grid. The impact of CPEC is expected to be so huge that research papers have been written on the topic.

President Zardari also visited European countries and introduced his idea of “Trade, not aid”. He lobbied at the highest level with countries of the EU. His continuous efforts in this regards resulted in GSP Plus status given to Pakistan in 2014. Not only did the Pakistan economy gain in terms of export revenue, but the efficiency gained was also immense as the relevant industries gained economies of scale and started becoming globally competitive. The labour employed in the relevant sectors was also employed gainfully as exports rise. Also worth mentioning is that the total EU development assistance for Pakistan for 2009-2013 amounts to over € 2.4 billion, funding activities focused on rural development/natural resources management and on education/human resources management.

Pakistan faced one of the most devastating floods in 2010. Flooding across Pakistan resulted in almost 2000 fatalities and an estimated $40 plus billion dollars worth of damage. International friends came to help the people of Pakistan in those difficult times. In the aftermath of the floods, the Russian Federation decreased the custom duty up to 35% on Pakistani goods as a goodwill gesture. The European Commission helped with €150 million in humanitarian assistance. The U.S. donated $55 million. All of this assistance was provided for the relief of the common man of Pakistan.

Following the footsteps of his leaders, Chairman PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has already visited US, Switzerland, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran in a short span of time after taking oath as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan to rebuild ties with the international community. While in his early days, he has already resolved the issues of Pakistani students enrolled in Chinese Medical universities whose future was at stake. It is hoped that like his predecessor, Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be able to strengthen and broaden Pakistan’s relations with the world and translate these relations into the socio-economic development of common people of Pakistan.

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