‘Pakistan must resolve CPEC issues’

Islamabad : Former national security adviser Dr. Moeed Yousuf has said that Pakistan’s security and prosperity depend less on military posturing and more on creating deep economic interdependence, i.e., “cooperative geo-economics” so that friends and rivals alike suffer more if Pakistan is unstable than if it is stable.

Yousuf was speaking at the launch of a report on “Going against the grain: Pakistan’s geo-economic pivot amidst geopolitical chaos” compiled by himself, here at the second day of 28th Sustainable Development Conference organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute here Wednesday.

He stated that two immediate conclusions follow: Pakistan must adopt a “no cap” (non-aligned/multi-aligned) foreign policy rather than fully siding with any one power; and Pakistan cannot achieve economic security in isolation as regional connectivity is a binding constraint. He said the world may be shifting toward protectionism and economic weaponisation, but the fundamentals of cooperative geo-economics still apply.

Geo-economics originally contemplated using economic tools for geopolitical ends, weaponisation today favours states with advantages in four domains: critical industries, financial/monetary infrastructure, control of strategic resources (rare earths, critical minerals) and digital/cyber capabilities.

Pakistan is unlikely to be a leader in any of these areas soon, so it cannot meaningfully “weaponise” its economy. Its realistic option is to leverage these domains to build interdependence: attract capital, enable outbound trade/value chains and export manpower, the three pillars of its geo-economic strategy. Practically, he said, this means prioritising development partnerships and connectivity projects that deliberately co-locate Western and Chinese investment so that instability would impose costs on multiple outside stakeholders.

Pakistan must resolve issues around CPEC, rethink South Asia strategy given strained ties with India and carefully manage relations with Afghanistan and Iran to preserve access to Central Asian links.

The central policy prescription, he said, would be to create 10-20 flagship projects where Western and Chinese interests coexist in Pakistan, build multi-aligned diplomacy and focus on cooperative, not competitive, geo-economics so external actors have strong incentives to protect Pakistan’s stability.

Former Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry discussed the evolving concept of geo-economics, praising the shift from coercive to cooperative geo-economics, emphasising that true cooperation requires stable geopolitics.