CPR tells US policymakers to choose trade-based strategy

The Council on Pakistan Relations (CPR), a non-profit advocacy organisation to represent Pakistani Americans, called on Congress to support a trade-based policy toward Pakistan beginning with establishing an Enterprise Fund to stimulate private sector economic development. The FY 2012 State Department/Foreign Operations appropriations bill, approved in September by the Senate Appropriations Committee, includes a provision to establish enterprise funds in Pakistan, along with three Mideast countries. It is modeled on legislation introduced in 2010 by Senators John Kerry and Charles Lugar, the Pakistan-American Enterprise Fund Act, designed to hasten private enterprise growth, using funds already allocated for economic assistance to the region.
Like last year’s bill, the current Senate provision would allocate previously appropriated aid funds and provide emerging Pakistani businesses with the capital necessary to grow and help stabilize the country’s economy. Small to medium size businesses make up almost 90% of all Pakistani enterprises, employ 80% of the non-agriculture work force, and constitute some 40% of the gross domestic product. With foreign investment sharply falling off in recent years, Pakistan’s private economy is a difficult state. The Council has also urged Members of Congress to reintroduce Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZ) legislation, which would lower tariffs on Pakistan exports from certain regions of the country most impacted by terrorism and natural disasters. In discussions on Capitol Hill, CPR has argued for a U.S. economic development policy with a renewed focus on trade, both bilateral and regional. CPR met with Rep. Charles Boustany (R-7th/LA) and Rep. Todd Young (R-9th/IN), both of whom voiced support for trade-based aid.