LONDON: Pakistan’s Finance Minister, Mr Ghulam Mohammad, said in London today [June 21] that Western countries could go a long way towards preserving world peace if they would realise that having exploited Asian countries they now had a moral obligation to assist them. He added: “Pakistan wants to establish friendly trade relations with every country and also co-operate with all advanced Western countries, and of course America, in the matter of obtaining technical personnel, know-how and managerial ability, which most Asian countries lack.

“I feel that capitalism as practised in Europe must learn to be a little more idealistic and less innately selfish. It must be prepared to invest in the goodwill and well-being of the common people, though dividends may be a little less.

… “It [is] a tragedy that Governments should spend such fantastic sums on defence. If they invested one-tenth of the money in bettering the lot of the people, civilisation and the world would be much better. … ” … Pakistan’s Finance Minister said that he had been telling people … that foreign investment in Pakistan’s industries was welcome on the basis of co-operation and mutual benefit.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2024