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EXCERPTS (ENGLISH ONLY) FROM INTERVIEW
WITH PROFESSOR DR. ASIM IJAZ KHWAJA
FOR PRINT PUBLICATION.
Professor Dr. Asim Ijaz Khwaja (Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International
Development at Harvard Kennedy School, Co-Founder and Board Member CERP) is
a distinguished alumnus of Aitchison college and a leading economist in the world
today. Wali Mohammad Sultan (President) and Mikail Faisal Ejaz (General
Secretary) of the Aitchison College Economics Society had the privilege to conduct a
video interview with him. Following are excerpts from the interview where Professor
Dr. Khwaja shed light on several topics related to Pakistan’s current economy and
future outlook for the benefit of the student body/ budding young economists.
On the need to invest in Pakistani talent and move beyond the geo-strategic
narrative:
What is special about us, relative to the world? What is our export advantage, if you
will? I think for a long time Pakistan has thought that its primary advantage is
geo-spatial. Its physical location. We are strategic. And I think that is partly correct,
but I would argue that we have overplayed that card too much. I would argue that,
because that card leads to a world where you are always playing some grand global
game. You are predominantly focused on what is happening in Afghanistan,
America, China and so on. And it feels, at times, as if you are primarily concerned
with events happening at a distance and ignoring matters closer to home that are not
working out and that require attention. And so my view is somewhat different: you
don’t gain advantage in the world by starting with your geo-spatial specialty. In the
game of chess we will be used as pawns. So you put yourself in this situation where
you are always at the whims of other people’s decisions and I think we need to put
ourselves in a position where it’s primarily us first. Strengthen our own abilities to
improve, invest in our own people, invest in our own talent, invest in our own firms
and once you start doing that I think naturally, once you enable people, people will
figure out what their competitive advantage is. I mean, why did the Sialkot industry
start? Did someone sit there and say that at this time Pakistan’s strategic placement
in the world is such that we should manufacture soccer balls for the World cup? I
doubt anyone thought of that, right? But the reality was, there was an industry which
was burgeoning, it was creative, and that industry probably saw an opportunity and
took advantage of it. And they invested so much in it, that they became the
unquestioned, leading player in it.
Start with people who are excited, who are talented, enable them to grow their talent,
and then from that you will naturally create opportunities that we can be leaders in.
Those opportunities will, I am sure, be factored or be affected by our geo-spatial
location, but all of them will not be.