Pakistan's Trade Opportunities and Challenges with CARs:

Abstract

Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan are struggling from lack of trade diversification and post COVID-19 economic woes. These issues can be addressed via regional cooperation and expansion into each other's markets. Pakistan’s new geo-economics ambition and efforts to reach out to Central Asian Republics (CARs) is gaining momentum, with Gwadar port being touted as the go to port for CARs. Pakistan has a lot to offer these countries in terms of being a reliable source of imports, as well as being the closest outlet for their ocean trade. Presently, issue of access via unstable Afghanistan remains a major challenge, which has been a regular point of academic discussion. However, there hasn't been much discourse on the challenges and opportunities that await Pakistan, once stability in Afghanistan is regained and physical access issues between CARs and Pakistan are resolved. This work employs limited quantitative analysis to examine trade potential and proposes practical solutions to barriers to trade that must be addressed if these countries wish to be more than pawns in the New Great Game.