The Qatari investment

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, during his brief stay in Islamabad, pledged 3 billion dollars though it is unclear whether the amount is to be parked in the State Bank of Pakistan (in support of our balance of payment position and to strengthen the foreign exchange reserves which would be required to be repaid at an interest rate that was not disclosed) or as an investment for setting up a specific plant/unit which would not be a loan though one would assume that profit repatriation would take place once the plant was up and running. The Qatari Foreign Minister stated that subsequent to the 3 billion dollars the economic partnership between Qatar and Pakistan would reach 9 billion dollars. And prior to the emir's visit, Prime Minister Imran Khan on his official Instagram account stated that: "this comes as a second major investment in the country after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had announced to invest $21 billion in Pakistan in three phases under its investment plan." The conspicuous absence of a joint communiqué, a norm for such high-level visits was, to say the least, most intriguing.
Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance, fuelled further confusion by tweeting: "thank the Emir of Qatar HRH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, for announcing $3 billion in deposits and investments for Pakistan and for Qatar's affirmation to further develop relations between the two countries." Recently, Dr Sheikh and Planning Minister Khusro Bakhtiyar, both with considerable experience in previous cabinets, civilian and military, unlike many of the long-term ideological Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf cabinet members, claimed successful negotiations with Asian Development Bank on a 3.2 billion dollar assistance package prompting ADB's Resident Representative to state that "these discussions are ongoing and details of the plans as well as the volume of ADB's financial support, once finalised, will be contingent upon the approval of ADB management and its Board of Directors" Additionally, Dr Sheikh and Bakhtiyar did not specify whether the package was to be disbursed in the current fiscal year (not likely) or over a three-year programme and how much of the package was for programme (budget) support and how much for project support.
The government of Pakistan's twitter account also claimed that several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) were signed for trade and investment, tourism, business and cooperation in financial intelligence though again there were no details on how much was earmarked for what purpose. Be that as it may, the people of this country have learnt that MoUs are legally non-binding, though China is proactively engaged in bringing all MoUs signed with the government of Pakistan to fruition.
Conspiracy theorists point out that while Prime Minister Imran Khan did chauffeur the emir from the airport to the Prime Minister's House, (an honour accorded to the Saudi Crown Prince as well as also the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi during their visits to this country and drove them back to the airport on their departure), he directed Zulfikar Bukhari, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis, to accompany the Emir of Qatar to the airport. This, they maintain, maybe indicative of discussions on political matters, perhaps relating to the incarceration of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which were perhaps not to the liking of Prime Minister Khan.
Foreign policy analysts point out that the Qatar-Saudi diplomatic conflict accounts for the severance of diplomatic ties between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and its allies including the UAE and Bahrain. And argue that any major economic deal between Pakistan and Qatar may cast a shadow on existing economic cooperation with Saudi Arabia and the UAE amounting to 5 billion dollars parked in the SBP, 3.2 billion dollars deferred oil facility for the next three years, as well as over 20 billion dollars worth of pledged investment through non-binding MoUs.
To conclude, the incumbent government, like its predecessors, is quick to claim success in negotiations which have not yet translated into legally binding deals and at the same time. One would have hoped that it had learned a valuable lesson from the ADB rebuff and simply waited till the projected inflows actually began; however sadly that does not appear to be the case.