Now that the first cargo of Russian crude has landed at Karachi, the government should be allowed a moment of basking in the glory of the achievement, but that should not distract it from the kind of creative thinking that went into this deal, and which prompted it to make a deal which put the national interest ahead of everything. The import from Russia has the most obvious advantage in being cheaper, being at a high discount because Russia is anxious to sell its oil. Perhaps a greater advantage is that the oil is being paid for in Chinese yuan, a relief which Pakistan will particularly be grateful for, at a time when it is desperately short of foreign exchange. Criticism of the utility of the Russian petroleum is being made by PTI circles, with doubts being expressed of the ability of local refineries to handle it, apparently ignoring the fact that the PTI posited as one of the reasons for its government’s dismissal being US ire against its agreeing to import Russian crude. Somehow, it seems, the crude the PTI would have imported would have been usable; but that imported by the PDM is not.
Perhaps more important than such partisan sniping is the need for Pakistan to break the bonds of geopolitics and think in geoeconomic terms. The Russian crude deal does not solve the country’s energy nor forex problems, but it does alleviate them, as does the agreement with Azerbaijan for cheaper LNG. They also show the government thinking about the problem, as opposed to a previous situation where the country experienced gas shortages because the government had failed to place orders for LNG in time, which indicated that someone had fallen asleep at the tiller.
The government should opt for bolder steps, such that bring more benefit to the country. Oil is not the only essential import; so are palm oil and pharmaceuticals. If looking more closely at the region, particularly at the east, can bring Pakistan any benefit in any of these, both in price and in reducing dollar dependency, this must be availed. The advantages of trade with the Central Asian Republics, which are all ex-Soviet, is bound to yield results, just as have come forward from Russia and Azerbaijan, also ex-Soviet, in the energy field.
