Friends’ unveil initiative to avert collapse: Over $15bn needed: media

[IceCold]

‘Friends’ unveil initiative to avert collapse: Over $15bn needed: media




By Anwar Iqbal and Masood Haider

NEW YORK, Sept 26: A permanent forum was launched in New York on Friday to help raise billions of dollars to avert a possible economic collapse in Pakistan.

The forum, which will be called the Friends of Pakistan, will hold its first meeting in Abu Dhabi next month.

The decision to form such a body was made at a meeting of some of the world’s richest nations that also have close ties to Pakistan and want to help.

“I don’t want them to give us the fish. I want to learn how to fish and do it myself,” said President Asif Ali Zardari while explaining what Pakistan expected from the new forum.

“We are engaged with Pakistan through international financial institutions,” said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “We will support the steps Pakistan must take” for economic reforms.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband described the meeting as “a very strong signal of political and economic support to the democratically elected government in Pakistan”.

UAE Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed said his country fully backed the initiative to “show our commitment to Pakistan”.

The three officials were among half a dozen world leaders who attended Friday’s meeting formally inaugurated by President Zardari.

The United States, Britain, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, China, Australia, Turkey, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the UAE attended the inaugural meeting.

European Union and the United Nations sent their representatives. Other countries are also likely to join.

Recent reports in the western media indicate that Pakistan needs as much as $10 billion to avoid an economic meltdown.

The United States and Britain jointly launched the initiative to form a group to help Pakistan after realising the seriousness of the economic crisis confronting the country.

Diplomatic sources told Dawn that at a meeting with President Zardari on Wednesday US President George W. Bush had told him that “Pakistan needs help today, rather than tomorrow”.

Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves are falling fast and if forward liabilities are included, the real reserves may go down to $3 billion. This cannot meet the import bill of one whole month.

Out of total reserves of $8.467 billion, the reserves held by the commercial banks stood at $3.461 billion on September 23. From September 22, the reserves fell by around $180 million, as there were no receipts while the government made heavy payments for oil and other imports.

This week, Moody’s Investors Service lowered Pakistan’s credit outlook to negative due to the risk of “missed repayments” on the nation’s debt.

Pakistan’s gradual economic decline, which started last year, alarmed the United States and Britain as they feared that financial chaos could allow terrorists to deepen their roots in the country.

To avoid such an eventuality, they decided to launch a new group of donors.

After Friday’s meeting, President Zardari told journalists outside a UN conference room that the participants had decided to make the Friends of Pakistan group a permanent body.

“All of them want to help. They want to make democracy work,” said Mr Zardari.

He said countries in Pakistan’s region realise that they had to support its efforts to fight terrorism, which was a regional issue as well and therefore needed “a regional ownership”.

“There is a very strong support for Pakistan’s democratic government” and the world wanted to help it deal with the economic challenges the country faces, he said.

“They want to help bring stability to the young democracy” and to help it “take difficult decisions” for economic recovery, Mr Zardari added.

Ms Rice, who accompanied Mr Zardari and Mr Miliband to the media briefing, said that those joining the Friends of Pakistan group had stayed “very closely engaged” with international financial institutions that provided economic assistance to Pakistan.

“We look at the US and the world support to (our economy) as a blessing,” said Mr Zardari while responding to Ms Rice’s expression of support.

The British foreign secretary said that every single country that joined the Friends of Pakistan group “stands shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan”.

 

[IceCold]

So why exactly was this not needed in musharrafs era? Obviously he was facing the same challenges, the new regime is. GOP will going to sink the Pakistan economy the way they are handling things.
This is really embrassing, the way this conference friends of Pakistan was initiated like we are some kind of a failed state lying somewhere in africia and aid is desperately needed. By the way saudis didnt show up this time.
People rejected musharraf base on what? I remember he use to say we need more trade and not aid, only problem is if people of Pakistan could understand what he meant and where was Pakistan then as compared to now.

 

[Zaheerkhan]

" I DONT WANT THEM TO GIVE US FISH, I WANT THEM TO TEACH US HOW TO FISH",,..thats the spirit...I somehow like this man.!!!

 

[IceCold]

" I DONT WANT THEM TO GIVE US FISH, I WANT THEM TO TEACH US HOW TO FISH",,..thats the spirit...I somehow like this man.!!!

Jesus........

 

[fuzon_tauheed]

Well you have to start from some where, lets not forget the importance of such forums to solve the horrifying economic condition of Pakistan. I think the best solution of this time is to mobilize this nation and have an open discussion on this issues.

 

[Neo]

Friends rally around Pakistan​

EDITORIAL:

A permanent forum known as Friends of Pakistan was launched in New York on Friday with the mission to help Pakistan out of its economic crisis. It has been estimated that Pakistan would need around $15 billion to prevent its economy from collapsing. The Forum’s first substantive session, hopefully meaning actual execution of commitments, will be held in Abu Dhabi early October. The future host of the forum, UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, said in New York that his country fully backed the initiative to “show our commitment to Pakistan”.

Others too have shown commitment: the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, “We are engaged with Pakistan through international financial institutions. We will support the steps Pakistan must take for its economy”. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband saw “a very strong signal of political and economic support to the democratically elected government in Pakistan”. Those who attended the Friends of Pakistan forum meeting were: The United States, Britain, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, China, Australia, Turkey, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

President Asif Ali Zardari, whose presence at the UN helped the campaign for Pakistan’s economic survival, appropriately remarked: “I don’t want them to give us the fish. I want to learn how to fish and do it myself”. Needless to say, the forum couldn’t have been launched without the help of the United States and the commitment shown by the PPP leadership in Pakistan to fighting Pakistan’s war against terrorists and extremists which cannot be sustained without a dramatic economic revival. And that is exactly why the international community is ready to offer financial help.

According to reports, “Pakistan’s foreign currency reserves are falling fast and, if forward liabilities are included, the real reserves may actually be just $3 billion”. This is money to meet the import bill of just one month. Pakistan’s credit rating has plunged and people who would normally do business with Pakistan are talking of possible default. Mr Zardari said that the world had rallied around Pakistan because of Pakistan’s return to democracy after an eight-year rule by a military dictator. That may not be accurate. The real reason is that Pakistan could go under the anarchism of Al Qaeda after an economic meltdown. An even more down-to-earth reason is that Islamabad is officially committed to the war against Al Qaeda’s terror.

It is, however, unfortunate that back home in Pakistan the perspective of many people is infected with prejudice and politics. A consensus has formed in the media about the lack of wisdom of President Zardari in deciding to go to the United States after the Marriott blast. It was tediously argued that a wounded nation needed its leadership in Islamabad for solace and that Mr Zardari had let them down by leaving the country. Worse, the visit to New York was publicised as a pleasure trip that actually made fun of the suffering of the people back home. Everybody was included in this frog chorus: the economists as well as numberless retired ambassadors and one ex-permanent representative of Pakistan at the UN.

Those who think emotion should come before economic realism also believe that the war against terrorism is not Pakistan’s war and that America is the real enemy of Pakistan because it is working in tandem with India, Pakistan’s traditional foe. They want the Pakistan army, already badly stretched against Al Qaeda, to fight the two enemies — one a global superpower and the other a regional power — with the help of the tribal people of Pakistan who need immediate humanitarian bailout rather than jihad against two such foes. They want to suspend the logistics provided by Pakistan to the NATO-ISAF forces in Afghanistan, knowing full well that Pakistan receives the running expenses of its military action in the Tribal Areas from these facilities.

There are a number of misconceptions in the “consensus” at home. It is believed that if Pakistan acted defiantly like Iran and North Korea it would become powerful and prosperous and may even get international support. But nothing could be further from the truth. Iran and Venezuela are leading the isolationist group, and the latter even spends money out of its pocket to encourage more states to act like them, but they don’t have the kind of money needed to support Pakistan. In any case Iran would be most unwilling to fund a pro-Al Qaeda Pakistan because the terrorists in Pakistan kill Shias as their side business. China too has complaints about its Sinkiang Muslims training with Al Qaeda apart from the fact that Al Qaeda doesn’t help by kidnapping Chinese engineers in Pakistan.

There is too much anger and unrealistic emotionalism over the electronic and print media. Unfortunately there are campaigns launched to malign the government through forgeries and planted lies. This is not the way to treat an elected government especially since it deserves the time and space to prove its worthiness. There will be time enough for that later if it fails to deliver the goods. *

 

[opinion786]

" I DONT WANT THEM TO GIVE US FISH, I WANT THEM TO TEACH US HOW TO FISH",,..thats the spirit...I somehow like this man.!!!

When this idiot Zardari didn't know how to fish in the first place .... what's he doing tryin to fish around begging? His fishin of words will be debacle to our $160 billion economy!

 

[maqsad]

So why exactly was this not needed in musharrafs era? Obviously he was facing the same challenges, the new regime is. GOP will going to sink the Pakistan economy the way they are handling things.
This is really embrassing, the way this conference friends of Pakistan was initiated like we are some kind of a failed state lying somewhere in africia and aid is desperately needed. By the way saudis didnt show up this time.
People rejected musharraf base on what? I remember he use to say we need more trade and not aid, only problem is if people of Pakistan could understand what he meant and where was Pakistan then as compared to now.

The reason this was not needed during Musharaff's era is because Shortcut Aziz was in the saddle and manipulating the economy planting ticking timebombs i.e. ticking debt bombs which were timed to explode when he left. Also $65 billion in panic repatriated capital kept the pakistani economy afloat and helped grow the budget surplus.

Have you ever wondered where that $17 billion in forex came from and where and why it vanished? Most of it was debt based and non existant. The $17 billion was not sovereign wealth funds at all but just a tally sheet created by eurobonds and other foreign purchases that Shortcut Aziz set up to make things look good while at the same time sabotaging the Pakistani economy. This $17 billion was not only a sick illusion of money that did not really exist but it was actually financed by billions in international DEBT that Shortcut Aziz created in the name of the state of pakistan.

At the same time the Mushy-Aziz team was also selling off cash cows like banks to foreigners instead of investing the $65 billion into something lasting and beneficial. The Mushy-Aziz team also granted telecom and wireless tarrifs to foreign concerns creating yet another drain of billions per year in forex, turning vast segments of the Pakistani ecomomy into consumer-driven sinkholes of wealth without a corresponding increase in productivity to counter them. So when they left this debt bomb they created met up with high oil prices as a catalyst and collapsed the pakistani economy which is what we are seeing now.

So what fault is this of the PPP/PML? People don't talk about it and when it is brought up they refuse to even comprehend it.