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Subject: Pakistan To Become Next Asian Tiger
TopGun    9/5/2006 6:22:29 PM
Walker's World: Pakistan poised to become Asian tiger By Martin Walker UPI Editor Emeritus Published June 5, 2006 WASHINGTON -- War is not often seen as a source of economic growth, but Pakistan seems likely to emerge as one of the main beneficiaries of the Bush administration's War on Terror. As a front-line state and major base for the U.S.-led campaign in Afghanistan, Pakistan has enjoyed U.S. financial support that has paved the way for new private investment and is turning the country's period of military rule into an economic success story. The publication Monday of the Pakistan government's budget demonstrates this dramatic change in the country's financial fortunes, with surging growth and new investment plans that suggest the world's second most populous Islamic nation is poised to join China and India as one of Asia's new "tiger" economies. The Persian Gulf sheikhdom of Dubai is to invest an initial $10 billion in Pakistan's boom, mainly in property, port and transport development, a sum that may triple to $30 billion if current negotiations succeed. The World Bank, now run by former U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz who urged heavy U.S. financial support of Pakistan when the country was being wooed after the Sept. 11 attacks as a key partner in the war on terror, is now doubling its own investment loans to $6.5 billion. The government is also to increase its own development budget by 50 percent. Salman Shah, economic adviser to Pakistan's prime minister, announced in a press conference Sunday that the country's gross domestic product has grown at an annual rate of 6.6 percent in the latest fiscal year. "This year also the economy has shown a solid growth in spite of major setbacks during the year," Shah said, citing the massive earthquake that killed some 70,000 people last October and the dizzying climb in oil and commodity prices. Pakistan's growth rate has averaged an annual 7 percent over the past four years, helping lift almost 20 million of Pakistan's 150 million people out of poverty. The proportion of Pakistanis officially calculated as living below the population has fallen from over a third to less than a quarter in the past five years, Shah said. Pakistan's take-off began with the War on Terror, starting with the war to topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. That triggered a big U.S. aid program, starting with $91 million in the first year and rising steadily to $706 million in 2005. "The U.S. forgave all bilateral debts to Pakistan, helped reschedule debts involving multinational lenders, provided billions in economic and military assistance, and encouraged international banks to provide even larger amounts of aid. As a result, Pakistan's foreign debt declined from $47.8 billion to $30.3 billion (today's estimate). Foreign exchange reserves, boosted largely by the transfer of large sums of money from expatriate Pakistanis, rose to $12 billion," notes Dr Ahmad Faruqui, research director at the American Institute of International Studies U.S. and international funds were joined by private investment from the Arab world and the Gulf states as the military government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf launched a program of economic reform and privatization. Pakistan Telecom was privatized last year, with the bulk of the shares being bought by companies based in the United Arab Emirates. Already closely linked to the oil-rich Gulf economies through some 3 million Pakistani guest workers, Pakistan is now benefiting from new infrastructure investment. Dubai Ports World is bidding for the management contract to run the new Chinese-built port of Gwadar, near Pakistan's frontier with Iran on the Indian Ocean, and other Gulf companies are investing in the new road and rail links from Gwadar to China and Central Asia. President Musharraf is now seeking to emulate India's success in the high-tech and IT sectors, telling the annual OPEN Silicon Valley conference Saturday that "a network of infrastructure is in place to serve as trade and energy corridor for the landlocked Central Asia, South Asia, the Gulf region and China." "We have put in place an elaborate IT infrastructure; connected cities and towns to the Internet; and three submarine cables are to further enrich the IT scenario," Musharraf said. "On top of it, we have talented English-speaking graduates, which are an asset for the country and international investors." "Pakistan today is in an altogether different league economically," Musharraf told the conference by video. "It has been put firmly on path of high economic growth with its GDP having more than doubled to $135 billion and all macro-economic indicators including exports, revenue collection, foreign investment, foreign exchange reserves staying positive." Pakistan's
 
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Jawan       9/8/2006 3:39:54 AM

thanks for the post TOPGUN

 

I travelled to Pakistan last year and was amazed at the development taking place in the country!  At every corner you'll see new highrises, buildings and infrastructure.

Pakistans geostrategic location and innate strenghts help push it through rough times.  It is definately a country on the rise.  It has signed an economic pact with China which started this year in Jan. called Early Harvest Program which is linking the economies of these two dynamic nations.With its literacy rate rocking up recently!  you'll also see a similar boom in its economy. If stability can be maintained and like someone posted before, a return to democracy, Pakistan is well on its way to success

Yea, keep dreaming. Incidentally why u travelled to pakiland. Madarasa training or Al queda training. May be some reeducation on ALLAH and training on how to blow up trains!!!.

Failed state remains a failed state. Failed economy remains a failed economy. No amount of HANDOUTS from ur BAAP, US or your other BAAP china is going to help.




 
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TopGun    democracy is key   9/30/2006 8:57:40 PM
interesting. most US allies benefit from Aid and support provided by our government but IMO, priority should be to get a return to democracy in Pakistan as democracy is synonymous with economic growth.  Im sure that many companies are a little skeptical of doing business in a country run by a military dictator no matter how good or bad he is.  I think for Pakistan to realize its true potential a return to democracy is a must and something the US administration and western nations should encourage this important ally to undertake soon.
 
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Pakistan Power       10/13/2006 9:25:54 AM

interesting. most US allies benefit from Aid and support provided by our government but IMO, priority should be to get a return to democracy in Pakistan as democracy is synonymous with economic growth.  Im sure that many companies are a little skeptical of doing business in a country run by a military dictator no matter how good or bad he is.  I think for Pakistan to realize its true potential a return to democracy is a must and something the US administration and western nations should encourage this important ally to undertake soon.


well said. i agree...
democracy is important for pakistan but we have low literacy rate &region is very volatile(Afghanistan,India etc..) which is why democracy always fails.  But some form of demcracy is better than none.  ppl in pakistan are realising that now and i hope democracy will be returning to pakistan soon!!
 
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eggfooyoung       11/27/2006 8:35:27 AM
pakistan will soon be run over by NATO forces. only india and china can save pakistan from that embarassment. contrary to becoming an "asian tiger" pakistan will surely become china's 'ho. you shpuld see all those pics of punjabi girls lining up streets and dancing for the visiting chinese prez hu"the tiny size" jintao.what kind of a state welcome is that--lining up womenfolk on the street and make them dance for a visiting dignitary. and for bush, mushy sent his daughter to the airport.lol!! a nation headed by whoremongers!!lol!!
 
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Pakistan Power       2/19/2007 4:34:41 PM
as your name suggesstss... eggfooyoung.... your a young foool!
 
hahahah  a billion of you dirty mongrels cant take on the might of 150 million people from Pakistan...
 
Pakistan has the geostrategic advantage for the west in that its just a stone's throw away from the middle east(conflicts and natural resources), right beside Afghanistan(current conflict) and Central Asia(huge resources and markets), China(massive market) and has India to its South East (market and future conflict)... 
 
The west wouldnt be foolish to miss out on the economic potential and prospects of investing in Pakistan now, plus with India's mashrooming population, and chronic instability, one needs only to look at history to know, that some sort of catastrophic problem is bound to explode in apartheid and crime infested india in the near future. 
 
Pakistan on the other hand, has shown itself to be thoroughly resilient in the face of adversity despite being surrounded by unstability from India and Afghanistan/middle East.
 
THis article rightly points out, that Pakistan's potential have yet to be realized and once they do, it will be a matter of ' I told ya so'.  Its GDP and overall economic growth have consistently grown >5%(over the world average) since its indepence in 1947 and analyst point to the fact that its population has finally tappered off and beginning to enter the phase of stabilization, the phase at which real progress is made in a country.  Just last year it has entered into medium income bracket countries.  This despite all the fall-out from Afghanistan, Indian hegemony and the brutal subjugation/rapes(social impact) of Kashimiris by the Indian army in Kashmir....and the fact that Pakistan is being run by a military dictator.
 
But the key here, is that a return to Democracy in Pakistan would be the ideal situation and would help catalyze this process even further.
 
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Softwar    ISI Runs The Show   2/19/2007 4:45:55 PM
Right now I think the odds are far greater that the ISI will stage a coup and squash any dreams of democracy in a fundamentalist Islamic republic closely aligned with Iran.
 
I hope I'm wrong and you are right....
 
 
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rogue       2/22/2007 12:46:45 PM
The problem with democracy returning to pakistan is that for most of your independent history you guys have been under military rule. The mechanism, the leaders (from grassroots), the culture of democracy does not really exist and even if it does is very weak. Once the military is in the habit of controlling power it is very hard to return to democracy.
 
Also the last two pakistani prime ministers have been exiled out of the country, thier relatives jailed or killed by rivals or the military......and the politicians have swindled enormous amounts of money from the nations coffers.
 
I don't say that politicians in India don't do this, but the top level has to maintain a certain degree of integrity that the pakistani top politicians have not. Also the culture of elections and democracy is so deep rooted in the indian psyche that military rule will be unacceptable to the general population. One more reason is that the Indian military has a culture of non interference in civil matters, which is how it is supposed to be if one hopes for democracy.
 
This post is in no way pointing towards indian superiority...i'm just highlighting some of the reasons i think democracy is still a distant dream in pakistan.
 
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Shah Rukh       2/26/2007 8:20:45 AM
...
 
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entre nous    to power pakistan with love   3/4/2007 10:52:28 PM
  hey wats up....ok first things first the meaning of the handle "eggfooyoung" is beyond your scope of understanding. its a chinese name. secondly, i truly wish yours was a normal country but turns out it is not . the future is not too bright either. while it is ok to patriotic, more and more pakis seem to be living out some kind of wet dream that assuages them pakistan is of great importance. anyways thats your problem but the facts are different. i guess our vice -prez dick cheney was there briefly to leash your prez and to smack his pretty a$$. next time it will be NATO troops doing the real thing. india ,china and russia are on the treshold of an economic and military pact. you guys will be dumped unceremoniously like we dumped you after the soviets withdrew from afghanistan.your history is very short and simple. you got whacked 3 times by india,used as TP by the CIA, and now you are being warned by hamid karzai and cheney. soon NATO will follow(U.S troops to be precise). praise be upon HIM.
 
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Pakistan Power       3/10/2007 3:22:13 PM
great, another 'closet case' terrorist from India.. 
 
truth hurts i guess, so u feel the need to keep coming back and writting all ur trash talk.  Looks like you people are fixated on Pakistan..  loll!!  what a pathetic sorry bunch you are... get over it!  Pakistan is happy as hell to get away from the rest of South Asia and will progress considerably faster on its own two feet.
 
Vive la difference!
 
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