The Qatar angle

Prime Minister Imran Khan's two-day visit to Qatar produced all the pomp and show associated with the arrival of a friendly state's government head. The activities between the two sides included a one-to-one meeting between the prime minister and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and delegation-level talks on a whole range of issues pertinent to mutual ties and the situation in the region. However, the final communiqué promised more than it revealed as rhetoric about trade facilitation and Qatari investment in Pakistan was plentiful but lacking in any detail. What has come through the thicket of diplomatese is the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf government's swallowing the Liquefied Natural Gas supply agreement by its predecessor government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz despite having been bitterly critical of it in opposition. The only request to the Qatari authorities from the Pakistan contingent in this respect was for a reduction in the Liquefied Natural Gas price of 13.39 percent of the international benchmark crude oil price and deferred payments for gas under the 15-year supply contract. Qatar is a Gulf state with enormous reserves of gas that it has turned into a lucrative export item in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas. Pakistan's imports of Liquefied Natural Gas total $ 4 billion per annum. To handle the imports of Liquefied Natural Gas from Qatar, two private sector terminals for regasifying the Liquefied Natural Gas have been constructed as part of the deal. Whereas Pakistan has received $ 6 billion from Saudi Arabia and the UAE for balance of payments support and $ 3 billion in deferred payment terms for oil imports, it remains to be seen what if any concessions Qatar makes to an already signed and delivered deal. The real, tangible, immediate benefit Pakistan can hope for in the immediate future is the offer by Qatar to employ 100,000 skilled workers from Pakistan. The FIFA World Cup is scheduled to be held in Doha in 2022. The huge construction and infrastructure work entailed in this project requires a large contingent of foreign workers as Qatar's total population of 2.6 million includes 2.3 million expatriates already. Indigenous labour, quantitatively and qualitatively, is insufficient. Hence it can offer to Pakistan, with its concomitant advantage of boosting workers' remittances home that now occupy an important position in easing the country's external sector difficulties to some extent. The only reservation about Prime Minister Imran Khan's otherwise seemingly smooth, seamless, positive welcome in Doha is his habit of dragging domestic controversies into foreign visits. In particular, his penchant for lambasting the opposition as corrupt, money launderers, etc, and putting the entire blame for Pakistan's structural economic problems on this factor, does not behove the head of a government representing his country abroad. This mantra was repeated in the visit to Malaysia, and now Qatar has heard it. Arguably, this airing of domestic issues of a contentious nature on foreign visits does the country's image precious little good and may even discourage prospective investors.
The other sensitive aspect of relations with Qatar is its ongoing dispute with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE over the Yemen war and Qatar's support to the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. While Pakistan has acted wisely in refraining from being dragged into taking sides in sectarian (the Saudi-UAE conflict with Iran) or inter-Arab (the Saudi-UAE-Gulf Cooperation Council differences with Qatar) quarrels, and even offered mediation to help resolve these conflicts, it remains to be seen whether Pakistan is in any position to act as a neutral arbiter acceptable to all sides in these conflicts. The only saving grace in such offers may be that it helps Pakistan keep a healthy distance from awkward commitments to any side, despite our involvement with the Saudi-led military alliance aimed, Iran thinks, against it.