It is a time of profound transformation in global politics and economy with paradigm changes not only in South Asia but also in Europe, Central Asia and West Asia:
There is a discernable shift of the economic centre of gravity with rumbles of new alignments in which China and Russia are cooperating in Eurasia through trade and energy connectivity and many new financial institutions and organizations like SCO.
The "Asian pivot" or "rebalancing" - though primarily focused on the Asia-Pacific - is also generating new dynamics in South Asia.
The rise of potent non-state actors, like ISIS, has changed the global threat matrix and is beginning to imperil the stability of many states and societies.
Terrorism, climate change, economic interdependence, regional integration, and a shrinking globe, are all facets of the infinitely complex world that we are destined to grapple with.
Meanwhile, globalization continues to forge ahead, with all its positive and negative ramifications.
Keeping in view these far reaching changes, the first important foreign policy objective is to safeguard Pakistan's security and eliminate the growing culture of extremism and violence from society. Starting with a clean-up operations in Karachi initiated in September 2013, the launch of the operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan in June 2014 and finally a 20-point National Action Plan of December 2015 initiated with the active support of all the political parties, constitute decisive initiatives for providing sustained security to people.
The second important objective is to make economic revival and sustained development the center-piece of our foreign policy. In fact, no country can safeguard its sovereignty and vital national interests without a strong economy. There are several positive indicators to highlight the progress that has been made in the past 18 months. It is expected that economic revival will gather further momentum in the coming years as the energy crisis is resolved.
The third important priority of a peaceful neighbourhood automatically flows from these two objectives. Significant progress has been made in strengthening Pakistan's relations with Afghanistan, China and Iran.
After Ashraf Ghani took over the Afghan Presidency in September 2014, there has been a steady improvement in Pakistan's relations with Afghanistan. Apart from important agreements for strengthening economic and trade ties, both countries have also agreed not to allow their territory to be used against the other and cooperate in achieving peaceful reconciliation in Afghanistan. The prospects of peace in Afghanistan are now more hopeful.
Pakistan's relations with China have always been very friendly but in the past 18 months, economic and security cooperation has crossed new thresholds to become "a strategic partnership for common destiny".
The only disappointment in pursuing this policy of peaceful neighbourhood is India. During Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to New Delhi to participate in Prime Minister Modi's inauguration on 26 May 2014, it was agreed that the two Foreign Secretaries will meet soon to revive the peace process. This meeting was scheduled for 25 August, but a week earlier, India unilaterally cancelled it on the pretext of Pakistan High Commissioner's meeting with two Kashmiri leaders. The cancellation was followed by growing tensions and unprovoked firing across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary. India has also launched a systemic campaign to isolate Pakistan by dwelling on its favourite themes of the past few years and by refusing to acknowledge Pakistan's determined efforts to eliminate terrorism from the region.
On 13th February, Prime Minister Modi telephoned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and said the Indian Foreign Secretary would visit Pakistan soon. Whether this visit will be a resumption of meaningful dialogue between the two countries remains to be seen.
Pakistan's bilateral relations with the US are also witnessing a significant improvement. After the crisis ridden relationship of 2011-2012, the official visit of the Prime Minster to Washington in October 2013 put the relations back on a positive trajectory. This was followed by the two rounds of the Strategic Dialogue that were suspended in 2010, the first in Washington on 28 January 2014 and the second in Islamabad on 12-13 January 2015, just a fortnight before President Obama's visit to India.
The improvement in US-Pakistan relations is based on several important policy changes and initiatives by Pakistan in the past 18 months. These changes and initiative were motivated by Pakistan's own national interests but they also addressed some of the US concerns and priorities.
First, is the strong commitment to fight terrorism. Second, the remarkable upgrade in Pakistan's relations with Afghanistan has not only helped to create a conducive environment to facilitate a smooth drawdown of US forces from Afghanistan but also improved the prospects for a stable and peaceful Afghanistan. Third, the comprehensive interactions in 5 Working Groups on the economy, energy, defence, nuclear issues and counter-terrorism have helped broaden and deepen US-Pakistan cooperation in these areas.
Other initiatives taken, as a part of a more active and result-oriented foreign policy include:
Launch of several new initiatives to expand energy and trade connectivity with Central Asia and West Asia. The proposed Economic Corridor from Gwadar to Kashgar will be further extended to other Central Asian countries, and apart from expanding CASA-1000 electricity import project, additional projects will be undertaken to import gas from Iran, Turkmenistan and Qatar.
Deepening engagement with the Russian Federation, as Russia and China cooperate, in SCO and other fora, to integrate Eurasia into the world economy without ideological overtones of the cold war era.
Building deeper trade and economic linkage with Southeast Asia/ASEAN.
Reviving closer ties with and seeking new avenues of cooperation with Africa and Latin America.
Serving Pakistani diaspora and mobilizing their potential to advance our national interests.
The core elements of our approach would remain constructive engagement, non-interference and advancement of trade, investment and economic cooperation to maximize our diplomatic space and enhance foreign policy options.
The center piece of this new partnership seems to focus on security and military cooperation based on Defence Technology and Trade Initiative and a framework for US-India Defence Relationship for the next 10 years.
The second important component was the understanding on the implementation of Civil Nuclear agreement finalized in 2006. While details are still unclear, they have agreed to create an Insurance Pool of Rs 15 billion to cover the liability risk of American nuclear companies. It is too early to predict if these companies would find this insurance pool sufficient to facilitate large scale export of nuclear reactors.
The two sides also signed a US-India Investment Initiative, and an MoU on cooperation of many high tech items with $2 billion private investment in clean energy.
The US also offered its support to India's bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council and join the Nuclear Suppliers Group. They also agreed to "work together" on climate change to seek a positive outcome of the Paris Conference by the end of 2015.
From the US perspective, closer relations with India fit in well with its Asia Pivot policy as it tries to boost India's status as a key regional power and a counter-weight to China.
While the final outcome of the visit will unfold in due course, Pakistan has already spelled out its initial concerns and expectations about the visit.
Pakistan's key concern is the paramount importance of strategic stability in South Asia.
India has embarked on a massive military build-up, through sizeable arm purchases both from Russia and the US. This will inevitably worsen the conventional imbalance.
In addition, India is also expanding its fissile material production facilities that would boost its weapons programme and is seeking access to advanced technology in missile and related delivery systems.
These conventional and nuclear imbalances between India and Pakistan are growing at a time when India is accentuating tensions and unprovoked firing across the Line of Control and the Working Boundary. It has also launched a systematic campaign to isolate Pakistan by dwelling on its favourite themes of the past few years and by refusing to acknowledge Pakistan's determined efforts to eliminate terrorism from the region.
While Pakistan reserves the right to safeguard its national security interests, it expects USA to recognize the importance of strategic stability to allow space and resources to focus on the objectives of economic development and poverty reduction and reduce the possibility of a reinvigorated arms race in the sub-continent.
We hope that not only USA but also other important members of the international community will also support this objective of regional balance and strategic stability in South Asia.
Pakistan is an important player on the Western half of Asia, which includes Afghanistan, Iran and the whole Central and West Asia. As one of the few stable and well functioning states in the Muslim world, Pakistan's role in promoting stability and in facilitating connectivity in this important part of Asia, is indispensable and well recognized not only by USA but also by Russia and China.
Pakistan is an important player on the Western half of Asia.