“So what’s up?” “The US has warned against trade pacts with Iran…” “Indeed, and Pakistan has a trade surplus with the US.”
“Right, but if trade can be upped with Iran to the tune of 10 billion dollars then that would surpass trade with the US right – I mean on average our trade with the US has been a little under 9 billion dollars…”
“Yes, but the US invests in our deficient social and physical infrastructure sector and…”
“Yes, but if we implement the multilaterals’ mandated reforms, we will move towards self-sufficiency and perhaps…”
“And the heavy reliance on multilateral support may kind of dissipate as they are headed by the US, Europe or Japan and…”
“But isn’t our objective to end all such assistance…”
“Correct, but given the current state of the economy, the promise of enhanced trade in the next five years isn’t going to help us much today, if you know what I mean.”
“That’s true, so what next?”
“Next I guess as the Americans say same o same o.”
“Unless China or Russia meet the slack.”
“Don’t play a dangerous game now: as they say, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”
“You know, the origin of this expression dates back to medieval falconry…”
“Our Arab brothers still enjoy falconry.”
“OK, but the expression referred to a bird in hand, which was the falcon, and the two in the bush referred to the prey.”
“Pray? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Prey as in the quarry, the target, the kill.”
“Oh, I get it, so who is the prey? Us or…or…them?”
“The prey at present is us, and the falcon is…is them?”
“Do you want to qualify that.”
“Not at the present moment. Give us time to sort our economy and then ask me this question.”
“Right.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024