South Asia Investor Review

Pakistan has made only a small contribution to climate change through carbon emissions.  And yet, it counts among the dozen or so nations considered among the  most vulnerable  to its damaging effects. These include rising temperatures, recurring cycles of  floods and droughts  and resulting disruption in food production. What can Pakistan do to minimize these impacts? Pakistan is working with both sources and sinks of carbon. Among the sources, the nation is focusing on increasing production of clean, renewable energy that does not produce carbon emissions. At the same time, there is a reforestation effort underway in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province to plant a billion trees to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Reforestation: Reforestation project in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province is part of the Green Growth Initiative launched in February 2014 in Peshawar by Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Khan whose party governs the province. The initiative aims to boost local econo

Growing defense collaboration between China and Pakistan irks the West, according to a report in the UK's  Financial Times  newspaper.  The paper specifically cites joint JF-17 Thunder fighter jet, armed drone Burraq and custom AIP-equipped submarines as examples of close cooperation between the two nations. Pakistan's bitter experience with the unreliability of its cold war allies as weapons suppliers has proved to be a blessing in disguise. It has forced Pakistan to move toward self-reliance in production of the weapons it needs to defend itself from foreign and domestic enemies. It all started back in 1965 when the US and its western allies placed an arms embargo on Pakistan during war with India. The bitterness grew stronger when the US forced France to cancel its contract to supply a breeder reactor to Pakistan in 1974 soon after India conducted its first nuclear test. Khushab Nuclear Reactor: Fortunately for Pakistan, the French had already given Pakistanis scie

The results of the 2015 WIN/Gallup International survey of 68 countries across the globe show Pakistan ranking 5th on economic optimism and 10th on overall optimism. The World Bank reporting the  tailwinds pushing Pakistan's economic growth  seems to support the optimism in Pakistan.  Most observers believe that the  year 2015  has turned out to be a good year for Pakistan with the return of general optimism among businessmen, investors and consumers.  Economic recovery  has continued as Pakistan Army's efforts, including its Operation Zarb e Arb and  Karachi Operation  by Rangers, have started to bear fruit with significant decline in terrorism. There are new signs of a thaw in India-Pakistan ties with Indian Prime Minister Modi's surprise year-end visit to Lahore. Efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan took a new positive turn with the hopeful entry of the Taliban into a quadrilateral process involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States. Source: WIN/

A top UAE businessman has proposed building a 500 kilometer long pipeline to bring Pakistan's Dasht River water from the Makran coast to Fujaira for United Arab Emirates' water security. Water-scarce Pakistan  itself needs to store and use the Dasht River water for development of  Balochistan , particularly Gwadar and other related projects as part of the ambitious  China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) . Abdullah Al Shehi, the CEO of GeoWash, has argued that the Dasht River floods annually, which has prompted the Pakistani government to empty the  excess water  through channels leading to the sea. That excess water, said Mr Al Shehi, could be put to use in the UAE, according to a report in the UAE's newspaper  "The National" . Dasht River Dasht River: Dasht River is located in Makran region and Gwadar District, in the southwestern section of Balochistan Province, in southwestern Pakistan. The Kech River, a seasonal intermittent river, is a tributa

A Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year to all my readers. The year 2015 turned out to be a good year for Pakistan with the return of general optimism among businessmen, investors and consumers.  Economic recovery  continued as Pakistan Army's efforts, including its Operation Zarb e Arb and  Karachi Operation  by Rangers, started to bear fruit with significant decline in terrorism. There were new signs of a thaw in India-Pakistan ties with Indian Prime Minister Modi's surprise year-end visit to Lahore. Efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan took a new positive turn with the hopeful entry of the Taliban into a quadrilateral process involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States. Threat of ISIS (Daish) presence rose in South Asia with reports of stepped up ISIS recruitment in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Highlights: 1. Pakistan economy neared the historic  one trillion dollar mark  in PPP terms in 2015.  The nation's PPP GDP increased from $884 billion to