Islamabad
\nThe Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) hosted a thought-provoking seminar titled \u201cEconomics of War & Interdependencies: Iran, Pakistan, & The Middle East\u201d at its campus in Islamabad. The seminar brought together distinguished speakers for a compelling discussion on the evolving geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East, Pakistan\u2019s role as a peacemaker, and the interconnections between security, economic policy, and global diplomacy.
\nThe event featured Syed Hassan Akbar, Chairman of the Strategic Policy Planning Cell at the National Security Division, and Sarah Zaman, Senior Journalist for Global Affairs. Moderated by Fasi Zaka, a well-known commentator and policy expert, the seminar delved deep into the changing role of Pakistan in global security and economic affairs.
\nSyed Hassan Akbar addressed the evolving nature of national security, noting how the traditional divide between security policy and economic policy has largely disappeared. He explained that as global interdependencies have increased, both military and economic tools are now being used in tandem to pursue strategic and political objectives \u2014 a shift that has greatly influenced Pakistan\u2019s national security framework, as reflected in the country\u2019s first comprehensive National Security Policy released in 2022. He cited US-China strategic competition, the Huawei and TikTok cases, and sweeping tariff wars as examples of geoeconomics being deployed as strategic coercion.
\nMr. Akbar also spoke about the transition from a unipolar world to a multipolar one, cautioning that multipolarity does not automatically bring stability. He projected at least a decade or two of global turbulence before any new equilibrium sets in. For Pakistan, he argued, this transition presents an opportunity: the ability to navigate great-power competition through strategic flexibility and a deliberate policy of \u201cno camp politics\u201d \u2014 maintaining deep ties with China (its largest investor and defence technology partner) while preserving a productive relationship with the United States (its largest export market and key influence in multilateral financial institutions).
\nIn the second half of the seminar, Sarah Zaman discussed the growing influence of media and technology, particularly in shaping public opinion during global conflicts like those in Iran and Gaza. She highlighted the role of social media in democratizing information \u2014 noting that troop movements and military logistics are now traceable through open-source platforms \u2014 and pointed out the challenges this poses for governments and news outlets trying to ensure the credibility and accuracy of their reporting. The Iran internet blockade, now in its second month, was cited as evidence of how seriously states are treating the social media battlespace.
\nA central theme of the seminar was Pakistan\u2019s remarkable diplomatic reinvention \u2014 from a country battered by two decades of the war on terrorism to an active mediator in the US-Iran conflict, earning rare public praise from Washington. However, both speakers stressed that diplomatic salience alone cannot substitute for structural reform. Ms. Zaman observed that Pakistan has historically positioned itself as a \u201cglorified highway rather than a factory,\u201d questioning how transit-route diplomacy can translate into productive economic capacity without investment in manufacturing, labour force development, and population management. She cautioned that \u201cflattery and hope are not strategy,\u201d and that sustaining Washington\u2019s goodwill beyond the current administration would require deep structural reforms.
\nThe seminar concluded with a stimulating exchange of ideas between the speakers and the audience on the concrete economic dividends of Pakistan\u2019s mediation role. Syed Hassan Akbar outlined several near-term gains: the arrival of the first US LNG cargo diversifying Pakistan\u2019s energy supply; growing US interest in Pakistan\u2019s critical minerals sector; Washington\u2019s support for Pakistan\u2019s latest IMF programme; new land transit revenues from routes opened with Iran; and the potential revival of the stalled $18 billion Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline should Iran sanctions be lifted, which could open transformative trade and energy corridors through Iran and Turkey into Central Asia and Europe. He also emphasized the need for Pakistan to continue fostering regional connectivity through initiatives like CPEC, despite the hurdles posed by regional instability and sanctions.
\nOn India-Pakistan relations, both panelists were candid that normalisation is not on the horizon. Mr. Akbar noted that the more immediate policy objective is preventing another conflict, attributing New Delhi\u2019s increasingly aggressive posture to strategic hubris and a neighbourhood policy that he assessed was failing. On domestic challenges \u2014 terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the situation in Balochistan, and internal political fissures \u2014 Mr. Akbar affirmed these remain top policy priorities, interconnected with regional dynamics and partly driven by externally financed groups, with cautious optimism that a holistic approach is gaining traction.
\nThe Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) remains committed to advancing research and policy discussions that address Pakistan\u2019s role in global economic and geopolitical affairs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) hosted a thought-provoking seminar titled \u201cEconomics of War & Interdependencies: Iran, Pakistan, & The Middle East\u201d at its campus in Islamabad. The seminar brought together distinguished speakers for a compelling discussion on the evolving geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East, Pakistan\u2019s role as a peacemaker, and the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":97042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97043,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97032\/revisions\/97043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}