Co-Chairman Pathfinder Group Zarrar Sehgal: Thank you everybody for coming this morning. I would like to welcome you on behalf of the Pathfinder Group and the Martin Dow Group to the annual Pakistan Breakfast at Davos. Obviously we had to take a two-year break because of the pandemic but this has been an annual feature at Davos, going back many decades where we had the pleasure to host Benazir Bhutto as well, and we’ve had we’ve had the honor to host the Pakistani leaders every year.
Before I go into introductions I’d like to hand over to our co-host Ali Akhai to say a few words and then to Jeremy Jurgens. Thank you.
Chairman Martin Dow Group, Ali Akhai: Honorable Chief Guest, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Chairman Pathfinder Group Mr. Ikram Sehgal, Co-Chairman Pathfinder Group Zarrar Sehgal, esteemed guests and visitors, good morning and welcome back to Davos. It’s good to be here again as your co-host for the Pakistan Breakfast. As I’m here today, I wonder what my father, founding Chairman of Martin Dow Group Muhammad Javed Akhai would have said. He was a patriot who felt strongly about the people of Pakistan and never missed an opportunity to showcase Pakistan’s achievements at any forum. We were here for the first time in 2013 when Martin Dow was selected as a global growth company. We are the only multinational pharmaceutical group from Pakistan representing at the World Economic Forum and operating beyond borders which leads us to achieve the status of a local multinational in its truest sense. Over the years, our relationship with the World Economic Forum has greatly deepened. My father believed that building trust is the key to success in creating a safe and more integrated world, a great example of this is our partnership with the Pathfinder Group. Over the last six years Martin Dow and Pathfinder Group have worked together to present the true potential of our country at this forum through informative and open dialogues.
After the outbreak of COVID we feared that Pakistan would be a potential hotspot because of its high population density of over 210 million, but due to the efforts of our committed healthcare professionals, the country was able to tackle the challenges with very mild repercussions. As lauded by the United Nations and the World Bank, Pakistan’s response to the pandemic has achieved greater success than any other country in the region only because we managed to keep livelihoods intact and overall socio-economic situation of the country stable.
At Martin Dow, we were similarly innovative; the Martin Dow family came together to support its colleagues fully. We worked to strengthen our bonds and let everyone know that we are together during any crisis situation. We knew we had to adjust to the new normal in order to move ahead. Quick planning and implementation was key as the organization coped better than our expectations; a job very well done by our colleagues and our management’s leadership. The way we handled this crisis can be the subject of a management study. While many businesses and companies were cutting back and laying off colleagues, Martin Dow Group invested in the company and employee welfare without any layoffs. We had innovative solutions for colleagues’ physical and mental well-being. We held online and in-person events and training sessions that promoted our employees’ mental peace and stability; ultimately, ensuring their job security was one of our top priorities. We returned to the pre-pandemic ways of working from the new normal in March this year and are now functioning at full capacity.
The last two years fighting COVID-19 has transformed us completely. We now believe in work from home amongst other innovative working methods that pushed us to change the mindset of our management and colleagues. This has also opened up many avenues to learn and to adapt, to bring forward gender-focused solutions. We introduced the concept of working remotely due to which more women were able to join our workforce.
Moving back our conversation to Pakistan, it is interesting to see how post-COVID-19, despite the geopolitical situation in the region and the country everything is business as usual. This signifies the trust that we have in our country. However, it should be noted that the world has been constantly evolving and keeps changing during a crisis situation. Therefore it’s imperative for us to strive and work together for a sustainable future for all. So, after two years of pandemic where are we today. I can only say that we are settling and learning more with each passing day. COVID-19 demanded us to push our boundaries and venture where we wouldn’t have before. We can say with certainty that the upcoming year is a higher standard of competition and quality, localization, consolidation, digitization and adaptability. In the past two years, we have revolutionized manufacturing and logistics, especially in the healthcare sector through the responses that our frontline professionals have provided us. I owe immense gratitude to all healthcare professionals for their hard work and cooperation. Acknowledging my late father’s vision and his consistent support in the past, I pledge to work with the international community in Davos to tackle crucial initiatives that will make this world a more sustainable place to live. I am very thankful to our leadership and each one of you for your precious time in coming together for Pakistan. Thank you so much.
Co-Chairman Pathfinder Group Zarrar Sehgal: Thank you Ali and obviously, one reason we’ve partnered very well with the Martin Dow group is that as a company we share the same social ethic. Pathfinder Group as well, instead of laying off people, we actually invested in people, hired more people and gave bonuses, in fact, to our staff as well. A lot of their hard work, you can see some of the staff that’s here as well, in putting this together so thank you again and obviously that’s what makes us great partners. I would like to now turn to Jeremy Jurgens to say a few words.
Managing Director World Economic Forum, Jeremy Jurgens: Thank you, so it’s a pleasure to be back here with so many friends. This has become an annual event and it’s probably the best breakfast we have every Davos. Now it’s been two and a half years since we did meet and it’s a great opportunity here to be able to receive the Ministers, so many guests and I’d like to thank particularly the Pathfinder Group and also the Martin Dow Group for organizing this breakfast. I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank Ikram, our deep dear friend and long-term ambassador for the Davos community as well as the World Economic Forum to Pakistan.
Now, we’ve all had a chance to see the program. History is at a turning point, we’re facing, I won’t say an unprecedented number, but definitely a large number of very deep and serious challenges. We’re still not out of the COVID crisis. We’re in a better situation than we have been, but many individuals are at risk, we continue to see concerns around the new variants. There’s a high level of uncertainty and how this might evolve. We are well aware of the conflict in Ukraine and the destruction that that has led to. We have supply chain disruptions, we have fragilities in our global food system where millions of people are at risk of malnourishment and starvation, as well the deepest energy crisis since the 1970s. We now move towards summer in the Northern Hemisphere but high levels of uncertainty of what this will look like as we head into the next winter season and where energy is now competing for basic necessities between manufacturing, production and other livelihoods.
We’ve also experienced a heatwave. More recently, we see extreme temperatures that would normally only come two months later in Pakistan and other parts of South Asia as a harbinger of a deeper global climate crisis that we still don’t necessarily have alignment on how to address. This is a relatively dark backdrop that we face here. Nonetheless, I’m actually very positively surprised to see how many leaders have come to Davos to actively work and address each of those issues. World Economic Forum supports our ability to address these challenges through five centers; we have our center on Global and Regional Agenda, we have a center on The New Economy; we have a center on Industry Transformation as well on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and each of these centers has active programs at work in Pakistan.
I can highlight our work that we’re doing on digital inclusion with the Edison Alliance. We’re working to improve the digital affordability, usability and accessibility so that people can fully benefit from the digital economy. We have also launched a ‘Skills Accelerator’ in Pakistan to be able to help skill up all the workers who need to adapt to the changes that are needed in the digital economy. Pakistan as well is participating in our 1 trillion trees program and has already made a commitment to plant 800 million trees, making a very strong contribution to this larger effort. So across the board wherever we look, we can see not only global response to address these multitude of challenges but also deep partnerships with our friends and colleagues in Pakistan to have specific improvements or opportunities that will benefit the Pakistani people. So I’d like to thank all of you in this room that are participating and if you’re not yet participating please contact me or one of my colleagues and we love welcoming you to engage. Thank you very much.
Co-Chairman Pathfinder Group Zarrar Sehgal: Thank you for those kind words about Pakistan and obviously we certainly appreciate the involvement of WEF in Pakistan as well. You have been a partner for us and especially in the areas of digital financial inclusion I think there’s a lot to do. We have a large unbanked population that we’re trying to get into the ambit of banking, we have a number of senior bankers over here from Pakistan and we do want to push; there’s a youth explosion in Pakistan that needs to be brought into the financial system for various different needs. I think the WEF will play a critical role over there alongside the private and the public enterprise.
I’d like to now introduce our Chief Guest, the youngest Foreign Minister of Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. He is the Chairperson of the PPP, he has a rich family legacy but I will not dwell too much on it because I think the focus should be on him today and the achievements that he has had to date. Just a brief bio if I may, he had studied at Oxford at Christchurch, and he went to the Karachi Grammar School.
I think what struck me is, in some ways when you look at Pakistan and forgive me if people have heard it before, most of our population, almost 65 percent is under 30; that is both a potential dividend for the world and also a potential issue. I think somebody like our Foreign Minister comes in to representing that youth of Pakistan. In some ways you’re in sync, that’s why I don’t want to talk about legacy and what happened 20 years ago because I think the idea is, Pakistan is at a crossroads right now, it’s at a precipice, it is a country that is screaming for investment, infrastructure, energy.
I could talk about the startup scene that’s in Pakistan, over 300 billion invested in startups last year, over a 100 million in the first three months of this year alone, and this is a drop in the ocean. If I tell somebody that this is how much the Pakistan start-up scene is they’ll be like why isn’t there more, and I think this is where somebody like you plays a critical role. I’ve been personally impressed by your track record, in some ways although you’re a modern politician but you’re also a throwback to the old social democrat, you believe in a strong social net, you believe in protection for the poor, you have been very vocal on the protection of minorities in Pakistan and that is part of the fundamental vision of our founder. The protection of minorities was critical to his vision of Pakistan. There is a reason our flag is what it is, so for me all those elements make me very excited about the future.
Another area you have been extremely productive in is women rights, there may be that your maternal background comes into play as well but you’ve been very positive about human rights. You’ve talked about the role of female empowerment, female education and how critical that is to the growth of Pakistan, not just of women but just the whole country as well. There is 50 percent of the population that is waiting to be productive for Pakistan and I think this is where you can make a real difference. I’ll let you talk about foreign policy yourself and this is obviously why you are at the WEF among other reasons. But I did want to highlight these things because to me it’s a combination of your socio-economic vision with your protection of minorities, and also you’ve been a constant defender of the freedom of the press even though sometimes the press is not very kind to you but you have constantly, and I really appreciate that you stand up for press freedom, you’ve spoken out against censorship in all ways, it’s not easy because we’re all human, sometimes we can delve into it when we hear criticism on us, but to your credit you’ve always defended the press as well and I appreciate that. So with that I turn it to you sir. Thank you so much.
Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari: Thank you everybody, it is a pleasure to be here at Davos particularly at the Pathfinder breakfast. I’ve had the opportunity to visit once before and have always been very impressed with the Pakistani business community’s efforts to represent Pakistan and promote our potential. I don’t have any prepared remarks, what I would like to do is sort of present to you what our global challenges are on the international stage with some challenges on the domestic front. But what I want to highlight is the immense potential that despite these challenges we can unlock economically for trade, the business community and for the average Pakistani.
So starting off, whether it’s on the international level or on the domestic level, we are at a crossroads of history. Geo-strategic developments on the international stage, whether it is Ukraine, whether it is Afghanistan, impacts the way in which the world will progress. It is particularly, at this point in human history, when humanity is facing not one but many existential threats, one in the form of the COVID pandemic which is indeed not over, but we hope the worst is behind us, and the ever increasing and very real threat of climate change that is leading to climbing crises and catastrophes in countries that didn’t benefit yet or didn’t sort of share the fruits of industrialization, are now bearing the brunt of climate change, countries such as Pakistan.
At this crossroads, we can either take the path that looks like it is being taken where instead of ending conflicts, resolving conflict and engaging in dispute resolution through dialogue and diplomacy, we can create more conflicts. I think particularly for the international audience here today, Pakistan has suffered and witnessed decade after decade of conflict in Afghanistan and no matter what one feels about the current regime in Afghanistan, ultimately in that dispute, dialogue and diplomacy led to the current conclusion. The message that Pakistan empathizes and empathetically feels what the people of Ukraine are going through because we’ve seen conflict up close, we’ve seen violence up close, we know what it means to lose our loved ones to senseless aggressive violence, we understand and empathize with what they’re growing going through, but our message to the international community would be that ultimately if not today, tomorrow, this conflict has to be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.
We have to ask ourselves what history will say of us, that when humanity was faced with such existential crisis what did we decide to do. Did we unite as humanity in the face of these existential threats or will history record that we went down the path of conflict, we went back down the path of war. We’ve seen this before and the trajectory of it goes down the path that unfortunately has devastating consequences for a country like Pakistan. We believe, being a relatively smaller developing country that if there’s an international rules-based system, if the United Nations and other international institutions function, it’s not only in the interest of countries like us but it’s in the larger interest of everyone in resolving such conflicts. On the domestic front, we’re suffering from a similar crisis, we are at crossroads of history when our country is facing existential crisis including the ones I just mentioned but is also the risk of a severe economic crisis which has immense implications for the average people of Pakistan.
We are standing at a crossroads of our democracy. We’re standing at the crossroads of the progress, and directions of our institutions. Will they remain constitutional or will they continue to be controversial. Pakistan also has a path to choose. We can either choose to be a modern, Muslim country making our mark as a rational, reasonable player on the world stage that can unlock its potential or we can continue fighting the same old fights we fought decade after decade at the expense of the people of Pakistan. While we see at the international level and the domestic level ‘you’re either with us or against us’ has irreparably damaged international foreign policy and our domestic politics, looking for ‘I-win-you-lose solutions’ on the international level or on the domestic level has hopefully not, irrevocably damaged, but has severely damaged international foreign policy and damaged us domestically, politically and economically, in terms of democracy.
The way forward on the international level and on the domestic level is a return to win-win diplomacy. Set concessions, compromises and positive leadership in order to find the best way forward for your people for a prosperous future and if domestically, at least, we take that power of unity in the face of existential threats and otherwise continuing our political victory on the sidelines, there is so much to unlock in Pakistan. Economically, we have so much potential, and this is untapped potential. In a world where people are trying to come up with new ideas, with new spaces, Pakistan has the potential to be a beacon of growth not only for its own citizens but to unlock untapped potential in our region as well. One depends on the direction of the geopolitical developments in the region and internationally, and domestically it depends on what we decide to do as a nation.
If we can get our act together domestically and show that we take difficult economic decisions in the interest of our people, to protect the long-term economic viability of our country and to ensure progress and prosperity not just for the elite but for all of society; if we can display domestically and internationally that Pakistan is a functioning state that takes decisions in its own interests; if we can show that we’re willing to help ourselves; if Pakistan can demonstrate that we are willing to help ourselves, then the international community also understands the potential that there is in Pakistan. As far as our regional situation is concerned, there is different geopolitical conflicts, I don’t want to go into too much detail but suffice it to say that Pakistan has its neighbor and and old friend China to the north, we have India to the east, we have Iran and Afghanistan to our west; and we don’t even maximize our trade with China. The potential that Pakistan has for trade with China is much more than what the world is seeing today. There’s a perpetual conflict aggravated I’m afraid, by a certain mindset, the Government in India, which has created an environment that is very difficult for us to even engage, for us to even talk.
But one day, we will get to the position where if the international institutions that I’ve referred to earlier play their role and we live by an international rules-based order, if we’re able to resolve certain conflicts that have plagued us and continue to concern us, there will be a day where we will be engaged with our neighbors to the east not just diplomatically but also economically. Geopolitical reasons have meant that even our neighbors to the west, whether it’s Iran or Afghanistan, we’ve been unable to unlock, let’s say to the very least, our economic potential with those countries. I want you to imagine a world where we’re living in an international rules-based order, where international norms and international institutions are not aggravating conflicts, not relegated to the sidelines, but playing an active role in resolving disputes and creating solutions to the geopolitical conflicts, then Pakistan just in that context imagine the world, where we’re trading with all our neighbors, where we unlock the economic potential of Pakistan in our regional geographical context. Now that day has to come, and the world will see that.
I believe that the world understands that if Pakistan is engaging as a rational player and not as an irrational player; if Pakistan is engaging as a responsible player not as an irresponsible player then why would the United States not want to have their citizens and their business community invest in Pakistan and vice versa when it comes to trade, when it comes to energy, when it comes to agriculture, when it comes to technology. Why would any country want to cut their nose and spike their face and not be on the ground from today, so that ultimately whoever gets in now, that day when we unlock our full economic potential, we will all benefit from the fruits of that prosperity. Domestically, this room shows you the potential that Pakistan has. This Pakistan Pavilion presenting Pakistan’s economic potential, business potential to the world year after year consistently does not enjoy the support of the Pakistani government. They do this on their own as a result of their patriotism, as a result of their love for their country and this is the potential that we want to unlock. (Applause)
We have a business community; entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs, as we were talking about 65 percent of our population under the age of 35. When I’m at Davos, at an international community event, I’m not only representing Pakistan, I’m not only representing the developing world, or a Muslim majority country in the developing world but I’m representing a new generation that does not want to be bogged down internationally or domestically by the baggage of the past, and who wants to unlock our true potential. We have, as far as the youth potential is concerned, everybody has seen big company business potential, I’ve engaged with the younger generation of businessmen in Pakistan, whether that is a new generation taking on their families’ legacies or new entrepreneurs coming into the markets, but I tell you, this generation is going to be the generation that works together to lift us out of this mess that we have inherited.
I have seen firsthand in Sindh, the Chief Minister Sindh is sitting right in front of you, despite terrorism, despite the to-and-fros of domestic politics, despite issues with our media perception to put it lightly, how when the public sector works with the private sector, we have done wonders. When we’re allowed to work, when we’re not undermined for one political reason or another, we have worked with the business community, to create infrastructure, the largest bridge on the Indus, is a public private partnership, we have worked with the business community to unlock energy potential, when it comes to the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company and the Thar Coal Initiative and I’ve witnessed firsthand, I understand that coal is unpopular, and we get to that, we do want to move towards energy efficient stuff ; I’ve seen firsthand how the lives of women in the area have changed, how women battling maternal mortality and infant mortality are now employed, from truck drivers to the first female engineer at the local coal power plant. We’ve seen before our eyes how this public private partnership unlocking the business potential has changed the lives of the people in the region.
We want to continue with this model, we want to continue to work with the business community, with young entrepreneurs to join forces with government, and if we can make Thar Coal Initiative as successful as it has been, if our biggest selling point, as far as the Sindh government is concerned is that even the public private initiative projects have been endorsed by international publications like The Economist, if we work with the business community now to work on green solutions and green energies, imagine public private partnerships in every district for solar power to help relieve 16 hours, 18 hours load shedding that we experience in rural areas, public private initiatives backed by a supportive federal government unlocking the thousands of megawatts wind power potential that we have in the wind corridor in Karachi, imagine public private partnerships other than Thar Coal that we can do, a public private partnership as far as energy is concerned, then we can do public private partnerships as far as our other utility needs are concerned; imagine public private partnership with desalination plants or other utility needs or infrastructure needs of cities like Karachi.
Our agricultural community, with just a little bit of investment and support from the government, directly to the farmer rather than the middle man, we can not only address our own food-insecurity issues, we can contribute to helping alleviate the food security issues in the region, our water insecurity issues can also be unlocked by just working with people, with the business community, with the people who see Pakistan positively and not through negative lens.
I’ve gone on quite a lot but just to conclude abruptly, if, whether, it’s internationally or domestically, we put the interests of everyone over the interests of a few, if we prioritize what is for the good of the many over individual political considerations, we can unlock our potential domestically in a way that has never been done before. Internationally, all we can do is advocate, all we can do is hope that the world understands that Pakistan is coming from its own experiences and play our role to try and encourage dialogue and diplomacy. If in whatever way we can push the international community to take the fork in the road i.e. one where we unite rather than further divide humanity, if we do whatever we can to move in a positive direction as far as Pakistan’s geopolitical considerations are concerned, then we can unlock the true economic potential of Pakistan regionally.
That day is the day I will not only be able to promise prosperity to my people and all of my people, but I will be able to promise prosperity to our region and I hope and pray that we can work together to ensure that that day is at least achieved in my lifetime, because I know generation after generation people have worked towards that goal, but the potential that I have seen in the youth of Pakistan, it leads me to believe that surely it will be our generation that realizes that day. Once again I am immensely grateful to all of you who organized this event and continue to play your part for Pakistan. I hope that going forward the Pakistani government, the federal government will be able to work in closer coordination with you to enhance the scope of what we can do here, and I am at least very keen to ensure that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs plays a part in that, there’s no reason why the government should not be working more with individuals such as yourself who spend such time, effort and money to promote Pakistan. Thank you. (Applause)
Co-Chairman Pathfinder Group Zarrar Sehgal: Thank you very much Minister for those optimistic and positive words. I think sometimes, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto used a wonderful phrase, the din of democracy, sometimes the din of democracy drowns out the economic potential of Pakistan as well. We’ll take some questions but before we do that, I’d like to just acknowledge a few people who also spent their time and effort to come. Obviously, the Chief Minister of Sindh, thank you sir for coming, the members of the Sindh government who are here, thank you very much as well. We’re very optimistic about the potential of Sindh, we think there is massive potential for infrastructure development, for development in the energy sector, roads, rail etc. I think there’s tremendous potential, you’re doing a fabulous job. I’d like to also acknowledge our Federal Minister Sherry Rehman, thank you very much. You obviously talked about an issue that is near and dear to all our hearts, climate change, I know the coal issue is sensitive, so thank you thank you for coming as well.
I’d like to acknowledge Ross Perot Jr., a friend of Pakistan, he’s been a constant friend throughout all our Pakistan breakfasts as well so thank you very much for coming, sir (Applause) Obviously our old friend, Mr. Daud, thank you again for coming as well.
I know he does not want me to acknowledge him but my father Ikram Sehgal (applause), you know, it’s weird, he’s my father so I can’t say too much but I’ve never met a businessman so less interested in a return on investment. (laughter and applause) At some point, the definition of profit is very different at the Pathfinder Group. (laughter), but I want to acknowledge all his tireless efforts, all my family members, my mother, my sister Nefer, my family members, my wife Kashmala who couldn’t be here and Ali Akhai’s wife as well, our better halves couldn’t come because of school and other reasons, they could not make it so I want to acknowledge them as well. With that I’ll pause and we’ll take questions.
Question: I am Adil Mansoor, I am from Lahore. I have had the honour to meet your grandfather four times in Lahore. First time when he started the Peoples Party, I was there, and I have the honor to be beaten by the police at that time. I am so pleased that you are the Foreign Minister and he also started his career as Foreign Minister. My only question to you is that, he gave his life for freedom of Pakistan, and for independent Pakistan, I would like to know about your thinking and your comments that would you like to see Pakistan as a fully independent country.
Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari: Definitely, not only on the international level but on the domestic front and for us to be truly independent, we have to be empowered, empowered to be democratic at home so we can choose our own leaders democratically, and not have them imposed on us undemocratically. Because of course, it is that very problem that has held us back so far, and as far as on the international front, the Pakistan Peoples Party, whether it was in the time of my grandfather, whether it was in the time of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, whether it was from 2008 to 2013, has demonstrated time and time again that we will not compromise on Pakistan’s national interests, we will engage with everyone positively but whenever the time has tested us, we have always sided on ensuring that Pakistan’s serenity, Pakistan’s national position is never compromised.
We have always empowered and are only empowered to do that when we have a democratic mandate and with a democratically legitimate government. Let’s look back at 2008 and 2013 in case people have forgotten, this is a time when we engaged in the world where we were talking about trade and economic activity, in practice slogan of ‘Trade not Aid’ that drives me today came about then. We engaged with the world whether it was America, whether it was China, whether it was the Middle East, across the board in the greater interest of Pakistan, and when the Salalah attack happened, which was a very unfortunate incident, where officers in the armed forces of Pakistan were martyred in Salalah, we had the democratic legitimacy to demand that until the United States apologizes, we will be shutting the supply lines to Afghanistan.
The reason that we were respected by the international community and not scoffed at, was because they knew that we had the mandate of the people, we were a democratic legitimate government and we were taking a principled stance, and we weren’t playing personal politics. Because we have the backing of parliament, we have the backing of democratic institutions, it was the first time in history that I can recall that a sitting Secretary of State of the United States did regret and apologize for the incident, which allowed us to resolve that long time dispute.
But if I was to invent a fictional international conspiracy then I would lose the respect, not only of myself, but I will be damaging the international standing of my country, so one has to conduct themselves in such a way domestically and internationally that enhances Pakistan’s position. As far as Pakistan as an independent country, we are an independent country, we just have to free ourselves, we have to give freedom of speech to our citizens, we have to protect the right to vote of our individuals, we have to give freedom to our parliamentarians to function in a democratic parliament, we have to give freedom to our institutions to work constitutionally and not insist on them working controversially and unconstitutionally, and then we are independent and free as envisaged by the founder of our country and as envisaged by our constitution as a federal, Islamic, democratic country. And on the international stage there is no reason, if we conduct our foreign policy wisely, that we cannot protect Pakistan’s interests, stand up against injustice where we see it, but always engage with the international community in good times and in bad, to ensure that we work with the international community and not remain isolated at the expense of our own.
Question: Your Excellency, thank you very much for your very inspiring vision and words. I’m here in two capacities, I’m with Agility, a major investor in Pakistan in supply chains and I’m also here as a Board Member of Seeds of Peace and I have a proposal for you. Seeds of Peace is a non-profit foundation which is training youth from Pakistan with the skills required to advance diplomacy over difference, to advance dialogue, and we bring youth from Pakistan every year to international programs together with youth from the GCC, from India and other parts of the world and you spoke about the demographic dividend of Pakistan. We will need that demographic dividend of Pakistan to be your cadre of diplomats in the future, not only within the government but within the private sector, academia, civil society, to advance your message of optimism and hope. So we’d love to continue our partnership with Pakistan, maybe work with you together to enable your vision.
Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari: Thank you, I’m so very impressed by what you just said and it’s so inspiring to see that people are working particularly with the younger generation to pursue a path to peace. The Foreign Office would be more than happy to engage with yourself and see how we can further enhance such activities and work with those young people that you’re working with, so thank you.
Question: John DeBlasio, partners with the Pathfinder Group in Pakistan. We provide the diplomatic security there to the US embassy. My question has to do with Afghanistan and the future of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s relationship. At what point do you think it will be appropriate to recognize the Taliban and what does Pakistan want to see from its relationship with Afghanistan in the future.
Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari: I’m not in an incredible hurry to recognize the new Taliban regime in Afghanistan, what I am in a hurry about is to help relieve the humanitarian crisis that the people of Afghanistan are experiencing and extremely agitated about trying to avert a complete and utter economic collapse in Afghanistan for I believe that an economic crisis and the threat of complete economic collapse in Afghanistan has serious repercussions, not only for the people of Afghanistan but for the people of Pakistan, for our region and heaven forbid the international community.
It is shameful that we are unfortunately repeating the mistakes of history. They say that history repeats itself, first it’s a tragedy and then it’s a farce, and if we allow history to repeat itself now, it would make a mockery of those who sacrificed their lives in this conflict. We need to first and foremost alleviate the humanitarian crisis, ensure that we avert an economic collapse which requires the United States to reconsider its decision to freeze the funds of the Afghan people. At the same time, we expect from whoever is in government in Afghanistan and particularly from the regime there now, that they live up to their commitments to the international community, that they do not allow their soil to be used for terrorism, they live up to the expectation and the promise they made to the girls and the women of Afghanistan, that they will have their right to education and have their right to contribute, I don’t say this because they’ve promised this to us and they promised this to the world, I say this because these are rights granted to the women of Islam by Islam. These are not any rights for anyone to bestow on us or bestow on the women of the Muslim world, this is their right, the first word in the Quran is ‘Iqra’- read, it does not say just men read.
We in Pakistan, the Muslims of Pakistan, the Muslim women of Pakistan, have already elected their first female Prime Minister, not once, not twice, but they would have done it a third time if the very same mindset and terrorist forces that assassinated her to have their way. So we expect the regime in Afghanistan to grant the women of Afghanistan which is their due, to live up to the international expectations, but we cannot hold the people of Afghanistan hostage until they live up to those expectations. We must act and act now, and it is my belief, my personal belief that the reason we’re seeing an increased tendency to focus on such issues by the current regime is that with the steadily aggravating of the humanitarian and economic situation, these sort of steps unfortunately have a risk of increasing.
I feel there’ll be more space for us to ensure that they deliver on the promises they made to the international community including to Pakistan, if there’s some movement on alleviating the economic and humanitarian crisis, otherwise as with autocrats and as with regimes across history, when people are hungry, then rulers tend to find ways and means to distract their people, and if you’re in ancient Rome that’s the Colosseum and the Gladiators, if you’re an autocrat in an unnamed country somewhere and your people are facing famine, you may decide it’s better to explain or distract your population by confining women, minorities, coming up with a cultural war, so I believe and despite my own personal history, my political ideology, my manifesto this is very the antithesis of what the current regime in Afghanistan represents.
But I will work day and night particularly in my new capacity as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan to do whatever I can to alleviate the humanitarian crisis and the economic crisis, and divert the economic crisis in Afghanistan, because I worry if these crises fester, if they’re not addressed, then the situation will get worse not better for the women of Afghanistan. The situation on foreign capacity/will to combat terrorist groups and terrorist activity in my country, within Afghanistan and heaven forbid, in the region will increase not decrease if we don’t address this crisis. The chances of an inclusive government or they living up to the demand of an inclusive government is absolutely sort of very limited unless these issues are addressed.
Co-Chairman Pathfinder Group Zarrar Sehgal: Unfortunately we’ve run out of time, but I’ll take one more question,
Question: Thank you very much excellencies, my name is Peter Bishop of the German army and it was very promising what you said Foreign Minister. I was in Afghanistan and also the Germans invested a lot especially not militarily but in the civil society, we built schools, we supported women, and now after 20 years we have a frustration saying hey what was worse, didn’t we understand the culture, probably yes, therefore it was very encouraging what you said. What I learned is the key of peace for Afghanistan is Pakistan, so does you support align maybe not with the current regime but with other people in the society that your ideas become reality for the whole region, because what I learned Afghanistan is also a very resource-rich country, they need not be poor and that’s what we don’t understand, so thank you very much for your speech.
Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari: Thank you, sir. I think as far as the past in Afghanistan, how the conflict was handled, how we reached this conclusion that’s the past now and we have to live with the reality of the situation. I empathize with the men and women of Afghanistan who sacrificed for years in the hopes of a better future, with the men and women who sacrificed their lives along with them, defending those ideals and those of us in Pakistan who by no choice of our own were drawn into this conflict and suffered as a result but we are now dealing with the reality of Afghanistan today.
I take issue with the idea and I don’t blame you, it’s an international sort of frame of mind that the key for peace in Afghanistan is in the hands of Pakistan. The keys to Afghans’ future are in the hands of Afghanistan. We can only help and support them in the way that I mentioned, but there is a lot of misery in Afghanistan but to quote my mother, there is too much misery in Pakistan for us to get obsessed with the issues; humanitarian crisis yes, economic collapse yes, but I will not carry the baggage or the brief of the new regime in Afghanistan over the interests of my people. I will continue to advocate for the people of Afghanistan because we consider ourselves as their brothers, they’re our neighbors and we have a shared future and a shared history and I hope and I pray that their governments, and their regime, whether it’s today, tomorrow manage to unlock their potential and I hope and pray that the governments and political parties and the various institutions that have a say in Pakistan can come together to help us unlock the potential of my country.
Co-Chairman Pathfinder Group Zarrar Sehgal: With that, unfortunately we will have to conclude this. Thank you very much Foreign Minister for your time. We really appreciate it, this was an enlightening experience for all of us. Thank you again for coming. I’d like to thank the members of the Pathfinder Group also who worked tirelessly to put this event together, unseen at the back. I would like to thank Martin Dow for co-hosting it.
I believe in Pakistan. I believe in the potential of Pakistan. I believe there are so many elements of Pakistan that we haven’t even spoken about at a forum like this that are vibrant, we have an art scene that is second to none. We export art; whether it be in music, whether it be in paintings, sculptures, dramas, I mean you name it. We have an unbanked population that is screaming to be part of the financial sector that will be a force multiplier with elements in the State Bank, like the Asaan Mobile Account and so forth. We have an agricultural sector which by the way, we can yield crops at a much higher level when you compare them to what’s happening abroad. To your point, we cannot just be food sufficient but be food exporters, we have an industrial sector that with the right investment can boom. We also have other elements that are owned by the state that can be privatized. I think absolutely, there is a lot of potential in Pakistan that remains untapped. With that, thank you again. Pakistan Zindabad.
