Pakistan needs to reorient its focus on geo-economics, as economic security lies at the heart of national security, said former National Security Advisor (NSA) Dr. Moeed Yusuf while speaking at a seminar in Islamabad, reports WealthPK. The Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) organized the seminar titled “The Future of National Security”. Moeed said Pakistan needs to reorient its focus on geo-economics and this could be achieved by enhancing regional connectivity and developing strong partnerships across the globe.

“Furthermore, while extending economic and development-centric outreach towards Central Asia via Afghanistan was challenging, it was the most favourable option for Pakistan,” he added. He said while Pakistan relied on aid diplomacy for a very long time, the need of the hour was to turn to development diplomacy for more sustainable means of ensuring progress at home. Another integral component of national security, he added, was human security wherein it was concerning that Pakistan lacked a long-term strategic planning due to the absence of a judicious model for redistribution of resources.

“Redistribution of resources to geographically underdeveloped areas was imperative to bridge the widening gap between the developed and underdeveloped regions within the country,” he added. Furthermore, he was of opinion that institutional reorientation in terms of ensuring provincial-federal synergy while approaching the outside world was crucial, especially in the context of the 18th Amendment which had rendered the provinces equally powerful in cinching agreements for development purposes and otherwise.

Speaking about the challenges to effective policy implementation, Moeed expressed hope in the system and said while it was true that established norms within the status quo were at times unaccepting towards reasonable changes, policy consensus among the decision-making circles was the first step towards redirecting the course of planning and development.

In that, he asserted, political consensus mainly hinged on a stable political environment in the country. He added that at the administrative level, the public sector in Pakistan needed to move from a regulatory framework to that of facilitation of the private sector. He emphasized a close-knit public-private partnership for Pakistan to move forward and reiterated that the series of problems presently confronting Pakistan were definitely challenging but entirely solvable.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk