South Asia Investor Review

Pakistan is launching domestic construction of warships, submarines and missile boats as part of its ambitious naval modernization program in collaboration with China, according to media reports. Karachi Shipyard  Chinese media reports have described a building program involving six of eight S-20  AIP-equipped variants of the Type-039A/Type-041 submarine  under negotiation; four "Improved F-22P" frigates equipped with enhanced sensors and weaponry (possibly including the HQ-17 surface-to-air missile developed from the Russian Tor 1/SA-N-9); and six Type-022 Houbei stealth catamaran missile boats, to be built by Pakistan's state-owned shipbuilder  Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW) , according to  DefenseNews . Pakistan is expanding and modernizing its underwater fleet with 8 additional AIP-equipped submarines jointly built with China.  Mansoor Ahmed of Quaid-e-Azam University told  Defense News  that AIP-equipped conv...

US President Barak Obama is pushing legislation to gain fast track authority to negotiate Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and  Trade in Services Agreement (TISA)  as part of his pivot to Asia. TISA faces  stiff opposition  from Obama's fellow Democrats and organized labor who fear significant loss of American service sector jobs to other TISA member nations. Pakistan is one of the countries that will likely benefit from these trade deals.  President Obama is expected to get the authority he seeks because TPP and TISA are both supported by the pro-business Republicans who now control both houses of  the US Congress. Member Nations of Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) Trans Pacific Partnership is crucial for America's Pivot to Asia which is aimed at checking China's rise and maintaining America's continued relevance in Asia. It is part of America's answer to Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Silk Road fund to promote Chinese trade w...

Export oriented manufacturing industries have helped a succession of newly industrialized countries like Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong,  Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and  China  create more and better jobs and rise from low-cost manufacturing base to more advanced, high-end exports.   As a country's labor gets too expensive to be used to produce low-value products, some poorer country takes over and starts the climb to prosperity.  Will this formula help create more and better jobs in late industrializing countries like Bangladesh, India and  Pakistan ? Will programs like Indian  Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's "Make in India" help create more and better manufacturing jobs to bring prosperity to his country? To answer this question, let's look at a recent World Bank report.  World Bank Report: A 2015 World Bank report titled  "Manufacturing Conundrum"  says this formula of creating more manufacturing jobs for greater prosperity is ...