South Asia Investor Review

Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) cable, a  96 TBPS (terabits per second), 15,000 km long submarine cable, is now ready for service. This brings to 10 the total number of  submarine  cables currently connecting or planned to connect Pakistan with the world: TransWorld1, Africa1 (2023), 2Africa (2023), AAE1, PEACE,  SeaMeWe3, SeaMeWe4, SeaMeWe5, SeaMeWe6 (2025) and IMEWE. PEACE cable has two landing stations in Pakistan: Karachi and Gwadar. SeaMeWe stands for Southeast Asia Middle East Western Europe, while IMEWE is India Middle East Western Europe and AAE1 Asia Africa Europe 1.  PEACE Cable. Source: Cybernet PEACE is a privately owned submarine cable that originates in Karachi,  Pakistan  and runs underwater all the way to Marseilles, France via multiple points in the continent of Africa.  It is being built as part of the Digital  Silk Road  sponsored by  China . Cybernet is the local landing and global connectivity...

Remittances from the European Union (EU) to Pakistan soared 49.7% in FY 21 and 28.3% in FY22, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. With $2.5 billion remittances in the first 9 months (July-March) of the current fiscal year, the EU ($2.5 billion) has now surpassed North America ($2.2 billion) to become the third largest source of inflows to Pakistan after the Middle East and the United Kingdom. Remittances from the US have grown 21%, second fastest after the EU (28.3%) in the first 9  months of the current fiscal year.  Country-wise Remittance Inflows in Pakistan. Source: State Bank of Pakistan Pakistanis in European Union:  The population of Pakistan-born migrants to European Union countries has been growing in recent years. With over 120,000 Pakistani migrants, Italy is the most popular destination for Pakistanis in the EU.  Italy is followed by Germany with 75,495 Pakistani migrants. Then comes Spain with 61,953 migrants, France 21,900 (2017), Sweden 11,674, De...

In the recently announced AUKUS alliance, the US has joined the United Kingdom to arm Australia with nuclear-powered submarines to check China's rise. This announcement has not only upset the Chinese but it has also enraged France. The French are angry because AUKUS has scuttled Australia's earlier agreement to purchase diesel-powered submarines from France.  President Biden Announcing Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) Alliance India, a member of the anti-China QUAD alliance, has welcomed AUKUS. Although AUKUS appears to be de-emphasizing QUAD that includes India and Japan, the Indians see it as a green-light from the  United States  for them to pursue expansion of their nuclear submarine fleet.  China could respond to this growing threat by arming its  ally Pakistan  with nuclear-powered  submarines .  “This looks like a new geopolitical order without binding alliances,” said Nicole Bacharan, a researcher at Sciences Po in Paris. France's foreign minister,...

What is the importance of the Middle East for the West? Is it energy resources to fuel the  industrialized West ? Or the key trade and shipping routes passing through the Persian Gulf and the Suez Canal used by ships to sail from Asia to Europe and North America? Map of Greater Middle East (Morocco to Pakistan) Why is oil, the most traded commodity, priced and traded in  US Dollars ? Does oil trade help maintain the US Dollar as the international trade and reserve currency and solidify US control of the global financial system, giving the US a very powerful tool to control the world? What is the history of West's involvement in the Middle East? Can it be traced back to the fall of the Ottoman Empire in early 20th century? When did the United States take over where  Britain and France  left off? Cold War? Iranian leader Mosaddegh's overthrow by CIA? Suez Crisis? Energy revolution is in full swing in  Silicon Valley  with widespread use of so...

In yet another act of conciliation on the part of Western religions towards Islam, the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano has voiced its approval of Islamic finance. The Vatican paper wrote that banks should look at the rules of Islamic finance to restore confidence amongst their clients at a time of global economic crisis . “The ethical principles on which Islamic finance is based may bring banks closer to their clients and to the true spirit which should mark every financial service,” the Osservatore Romano said. “Western banks could use tools such as the Islamic bonds , known as sukuk, as collateral”. Sukuk may be used to fund the “‘car industry or the next Olympic Games in London,” the article says. The Vatican article is only one of many articles that have recently appeared on the acceptance by Western governments and bankers of an Islamic financing system . More than accepting it, they seem to be welcoming it, though they are certainly being pressured into this by unnamed force...