Game Plan:
Pakistan Economic Gateway
Vision, Strategy, and Leverage in a New World Order
Markings Publishing
Shahryar Niazi-Khan brings all his diplomatic and political expertise and experience to this work to draw out significant geo-strategic insights on the potential future of Pakistan, why the country is essential to regional stability, and the risks if ignored.
With increasing emphasis and attention in the twenty-first century shifting eastwards, the author highlights the unique and indeed pivotal role to be played by the Pakistan Economic Gateway in the West-East dynamic. Such a gateway could provide a new economic impetus and potential for Pakistan-India relations similar to what helped to create a new era in Europe in the 1950s, especially between France and Germany. It could also prevent this new emerging order from drifting into competing blocs if modelled correctly. It could foster greater balance, understanding, and thus stability; the latter is crucial for developing interdependent supply chains.
In an era where attention is drawn to many urgent crises, this book reminds Western policymakers about the importance of Pakistan and its potential in the broader region. It is a reminder that as power and influence shift eastwards, the global balance, whether economic, political or social, needs more centers of influence and stability committed to maintaining peace and stability. The Pakistan Economic Gateway, similar to the stability generated by the European Coal and Steel Community in the 1950s, has great potential to provide regional and, thus, global stability and peace in the twenty-first century. The author has produced an insightful and significant analysis of the potential impact on Pakistan, the region and the world.
Former British Ambassador and Head of Policy at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Global Praise for "Game Plan"
Director of the European Leadership Network, former UK High Commissioner to Pakistan and Ambassador to NATO.
“This is a timely and insightful work, a masterful tour de force in geostrategy. Shahryar Niazi has mapped out Pakistan’s trade and economic future, rooted in historical context but outlining a positive way forward in an uncertain world. The book is particularly shrewd as it also covers what I call the “software” of trade.”
Secretary General, International Road Transport Union (IRU)
“Niazi presents a compelling vision … Pakistan Economic Gateway promises to make significant contribution to the global transition towards a green economy while unlocking new business opportunities for companies worldwide.”
Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
“Niazi’s work will serve a wide range of Western policy makers, scholars and students. Experts on the region will benefit from his broad yet carefully elaborated treatment of Pakistan’s situation and potential strategic avenues forward, with a wealth of important details and data.”
Former White House official
“Pakistan has an opportunity amidst an increasingly unstable world to boost its trade and connectivity, drawing on its geographic position, large market and economic potential. Shahryar Niazi has written a useful primer that can help readers think afresh about what Pakistan can choose to do to take advantage of, and accelerate.”
Professor of Practice in Public Policy, London School of Economics
“Shahryar Niazi has explored a novel concept. He has very ably put together a strategy relating to the natural endowment status of Pakistan especially in terms of mineral wealth.”
Former Federal Secretary to the Government of Pakistan on Finance, Interior, Economic Affairs, and Climate Change, and Chief Executive, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan.
“This book presents a strategic vision for enhancing transcontinental trade.”
“In this concise but analytically exacting study, Niazi constructs a panoramic recipe for Pakistan’s geopolitical ascendancy … At the very least, the reader is left wanting further elaborations upon Niazi’s thoughtful, well-informed proposals, and that makes his creative analysis well worth consideration.”
“A work of uncommon acuity and strategic prescience … the volume delineates a grand design of such breadth and ambition as to place it within the tradition of Spykman, George Kennan, and Mackinder … It deserves to be read not only by policymakers and strategists but by all those concerned with the architecture of a multipolar world.”
“For policymakers, economists and anyone invested in the future of Asia and global trade, this book is not just essential reading—it is a roadmap to a reimagined world order.”
CONTENT
List of Maps
List of Photographs and Illustrations
Abbreviations
Dedication
Introduction
1. Maritime Trade
2. The Indian Ocean: The Pivot
3. Euro-Atlantic: Blast from the Past
4. Russia: Dream of a Supercontinent
5. China: The Re-emergence of the Pax Sinica
6. India: New Power on the Block
7. The Grand Strategy: Pakistan Economic Gateway
8. TIR: License for Connectivity
9. Chagai: The Capital of Low Carbon Battery Minerals
10. Gabd: The Western Door
11. Sonmiani: The Green Seaport
12. United States: The Hegemon and the New World Order
13. Pakistan: Navigating the Second Cold War
APPENDICES
Appendix I. Pakistan – Iran- Turkey – Europe Corridor vs
India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor
Appendix II. Pakistan-Iran-Eurasia Corridor Case Study
Appendix III. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Case Study
Appendix IV. Pakistan Highway Network and Strategic Interventions – Roads
Appendix V. Pakistan Railway Network and Strategic Interventions – Railway
Annexures
Acknowledgements
Notes
Index
“Shahryar Niazi's concept comes at a crucial juncture, as global supply chains face mounting challenges and disruptions … The Pakistan Economic Gateway initiative would foster regional integration across the Afro-Eurasian space by offering alternative routes for Euro-Atlantic business into the Indo-Pacific … the initiative holds promise as a potentially significant supplier of the critical minerals so important for Europe's energy security and its transition towards sustainable energy.”