Pakistan Army Chief’s desperate act: urges diaspora in USA to invest to rebuild economy
Pakistan Army Chief Gen Syed Asim Munir during his USA trip in a desperate move has launched a charm offensive on the Pakistani diaspora, urging them to invest in Pakistan.
Wealthy Pakistani individuals in the USA — investors, physicians, IT professionals, engineers, university professors, financial experts, and economists attended an event during the ongoing visit of Munir.
Munir asked the attendees to invest in Pakistan via the Special Investment Facilitation Council and claimed that investments were completely secure, ET has learnt.
Foreign investments are sparse in Pakistan since the economic crisis and there is no certainty that the Pakistan diaspora wants to take risk in investing in the country.
This exercise was part of Pakistan Army’s attempts to build the economy. Earlier this year IMF approved a $3-billion bailout package for Pakistan, saving it from defaulting on its debt repayments. But it attached stringent conditions which forced Pakistan to cut back on fuel and power subsidies.
In recent years, essential food items in Pakistan like wheat flour, meat, and rice have at times more than doubled in cost, in what economist and former finance minister Miftah Ismail called a «disastrous» situation for the poor and the working class.
Munir is visiting the USA to rebuild ties and has so far met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defence Lloyd J. Austin, Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Finer and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown.
During these meetings Munir raked up the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and highlighted the importance of resolving the Kashmir
