Transforming Pakistan: from Poverty to Prosperity

Pakistan may have inherited many problems, but in its first half, its performance was much better than many other developing countries. Something started going wrong from the 1980s onwards. What was it, and how can it be rectified? What lessons can we learn from other developing countries that were once facing similar economic challenges and then turned around their economies and are now considered highly successful? There may be many reasons why some countries fail, and others succeed, but one difference is apparent. Those who opened their economies to international trade grew, while those who isolated themselves could not prosper. What can Pakistan do to liberalize its trade and integrate regionally and globally?

About the Speaker:

Dr. Manzoor Ahmad is currently serving as an international trade arbitrator at WTO and a Senior Fellow at PIDE. He previously served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to WTO; Director, Food and Agriculture Organization to UN and Member (Customs) at FBR. He is a regular columnist on Pakistan’s economy.