SE Asia tour: fresh ground broken

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s recently concluded four-nation Southeast Asia tour demonstrated that diplomacy and personal contacts make a winning combination.

On the eve of the prime minister’s meeting with his Thai counterpart, a senior Pakistani diplomat based in Bangkok had predicted that it was unlikely that Thailand would agree to openly support Pakistan’s bid for full dialogue partnership status with Asean. According to him, Thailand had signalled through diplomatic channels that it would only extend behind-the-scenes support at this stage.

The next day when Thai Prime Minister Dr Thaksin strongly endorsed Pakistan’s bid, I sought the same Pakistani diplomat’s comment on this development. His hunch was that Mr Aziz’s old rapport with Dr Thaksin had made it possible.

In Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore too, the prime minister’s personal contacts helped on many fronts. Fresh ground was broken during the tour aimed at building a comprehensive partnership with the Asean nations bilaterally and collectively. Positive gains were made in the area of trade, with firm commitments from Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore for early conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This could make a marked difference to our economy in terms of trade and eventually investment as well as modernization and expansion of our industry.

The leadership in all four Asean countries acknowledged Pakistan’s proactive approach towards the bloc and appreciated the substantive steps taken by it towards integration. Pakistan’s rapid response to the tsunami disaster was much appreciated.

The high-level political contacts gave an impetus to bilateral relations with new areas of cooperation identified. A key consequence of the visit would be enhanced defence cooperation with the countries concerned.

The prime minister felt particularly at ease during this tour because it took him to a region where he had served as a Citibank executive a decade back. He was a familiar face in the corporate sector and had many friends in the top echelons of government. “Yeh tau apna mohalla hai (this is my own neighbourhood),” he told accompanying journalists.

At a Singapore Press Club function his host, referring to Mr Aziz’s success in the corporate sector, went to the extent of saying at one point that many of his “disciples” were present on the occasion. The prime minister who does not enjoy a “heavy mandate” at home obviously loved every bit of the attention he got.

Mr Aziz faced a host of pointed questions in all four countries from the business community and representatives of civil society. These largely reflected concerns about secure investment in Pakistan, rule of law, the human rights situation, law and order, sectarianism, political stability, the democratic process and continuity of policies.

Portraying himself as a gender-sensitive prime minister, he made repeated references to the gender balance. While underlining the large representation of women in parliament and his cabinet, he said: “We have five women ministers, one is here and four more are at home.” Realizing the connotation of “at home”, he quickly corrected himself and added: “I mean back home”.

Ironically, Mr Aziz’s repeated declaration that “the Pakistan of today is a Pakistan of professionals” seemed a contradiction in terms when except for one envoy all Pakistani ambassadors posted in the four countries he visited were political appointees.

Two are retired military men, one a businessman and only one a career diplomat. Also, the prime minister’s 80-member entourage that included quite a few free-loaders did not send a very positive signal to the host countries. Questions were raised about the hospitality being over-stretched.

Mr. Aziz’s unending media engagements and interaction with the business leaders were considered a bit overdone and seen by some as a self-serving exercise. He did not hit the headlines in any of the four Asean member countries he visited. The visit did not win front page stories in the host countries. However, the state-owned Pakistani channel bought satellite time worth millions of rupees to diligently relay back home a feed of the prime minister’s daily ‘official and unofficial’ engagements. Two PTV teams were deployed round the clock to ensure that the visit got proper coverage.

Some Indian journalists in Singapore could not fathom why Pakistan’s prime minister had travelled all the way to explore Asean markets when there were tremendous opportunities to trade with its next-door neighbour. Coming from the Indians this was surprising given that India itself has been focusing on East Asian markets. Perhaps, the Indian friends forgot that Pakistan has no political disputes or issues to settle and no history of wars with these countries.

Pakistan’s Look-East policy has been welcomed by the Chinese who believe that Pakistan has been focusing too much on the West. Two Islamabad-based Chinese diplomats in a chat with this correspondent the other day declared they were absolutely “delighted” by this shift. They also hinted that China could play a positive role in helping Pakistan achieve its objective of full dialogue partnership with Asean. They were quick to point out that China had excellent relations with all 10 Asean member states and was the first to establish summit level interaction (Asean plus one) with the bloc.

Although Pakistan started a little late in the day, it has been actively pursuing this policy for the last two years. Credit for formulating the ‘strategic East Asia vision’ should go largely to Pakistan’s current ambassador to China, Salman Bashir. He is the man who as additional secretary, Asia Pacific region at the foreign ministry, conceptualized it and then pushed it at various levels.

The challenge now is to follow up on the goodwill and commitments and cash in on the interest shown in partnership with Pakistan during the prime minister’s trip. Also, there is need to create awareness among our people and the private sector about the virtually unlimited opportunities available in the Asean countries.