2 COMMENTS

  1. Japanese economic interests have long been diverted to other countries. In the 1950s and 1960s Pakistan was the center stage of Japanese investment in Asia. Pakistan itself help recovered the Japanese economy soon after Pakistan's independence. That time Japanese businessmen and Government find Pakistan a hope to their revival. (Myself done a doctoral study on this subject from Australia). Days ago, Japanese businessmen said that Vietnam, Myanmar, and Bangladesh are best investment destinations in spite of ignoring the fact that Muslim genocide is taking place in Myanmar these days. In the 1970s Japanese were more inclined toward South East Asian countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. When Japanese tuned toward the North East Asian countries like Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and China, an economic miracle has happened. Politically and economically Pakistan has not evolved a policy since 1971 to attract Japanese business. The PPP's policy of nationalization jeopardized Japanese commercial interests. Even their share (NEC’s) in PTC, for instance, was nationalized. Some momentum of business was reinvented in the 1980s. It was the PML (N) Government that invited more Japanese, South Korean, and Chinese commercial interests in Pakistan. Japanese car assembling plants, Daewoo Motorway and buses, and large Chinese commercial projects are few examples. Endemic corruption under the present PPP Government and huge commercial scandals keep the profit-making Japanese investors at the bay. For the same reason of inconsistency of economic policy, endemic corruption, political turmoils, law and order, war on terror, undue involvements of powers in Pakistan, insecurity of the yen invested in Pakistan, and strange cultural structure alien to Japanese, are some of the factors discourage them to do business in Pakistan. Japanese often complain that Pakistan themselves keep their capital in foreign countries instead of investing here but ask them to invest here. This is dichotomy. Politicians also do not invest here but they keep their capital abroad. Where there is a culture of looting of State money, foreign investor do not come in. The business fora established between the two countries have never proved effective including the Japan-Pakistan Business Committee formed in the 1980s. Since the 9/11 Japanese are more investing in India and even signing the nuclear deal against the Japanese principles of neutrality and stance against nuclearization. In the long run such Japanese policies would prove fatal in South Asia. In short, under the prevailing conditions, as mentioned above, to lure more Japanese business and investment is a far cry. Dr Ahmad Rashid Malik – Islamabad.

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