KARACHI: As part of the continuing series of monthly webinars on various topics of political and economic significance, a webinar on ‘The foreign policy of the US under President Joe Biden’ was held recently, according to a statement issued here.

It was organised by the Global and Regional Studies Centre (GRSC), Institute of Business Management (IoBM), Karachi.

The moderator was former ambassador Ghulam Rasool Baluch. Among the panellists were former ambassador and foreign secretary Najmuddin Shaikh and former foreign secretary and ambassador Javid Hussain.

During the opening statement, ambassador Baluch said that days before the election Capitol Hill was stormed by Donald Trump’s supporters. This affected the soft power image of the US and its allies. He mentioned that bringing political unity in the US would be President Biden’s priority as his regime must address a plethora of domestic and international issues.

Ambassador Shaikh said that President Biden must focus on mending US domestic affairs.

He mentioned that time would tell how much faith could be placed in President Biden’s claim of rebuilding old ties.

He said that Europe-US ties would play a fundamental role in determining US-Russia relations.

When touching upon the Indo-Pacific strategy of Trump, Mr Shaikh said the Kargil episode handled by the then government in consultation with India created trust between the US and India.

He further mentioned that to counter the rise of China in the region, the US chose India as an ally. In this regard India should be regarded as the counterweight to China.

Ambassador Javid said that Biden had a gigantic task of initiating economic recovery especially in the era of Covid-19. When commenting on the US foreign policy, he shared that the China-US rivalry would continue as the US would challenge China’s economic rise. “This will strengthen US-India strategic partnership. And the US will also fortify its relations with Japan, South Korea, and Australia.”

Ambassador Javid said that President Biden would focus on multilateral decisions and issues of disarmament and was expected to take a tougher stance with Russia.

Ambassador Baluch thanked Ambassador Shaikh and Ambassador Javid for sharing diplomatic insights on the topic.

He was hopeful that these recommendations should be taken up by the government to develop a diplomatic course of action.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2021