The chicken or the egg?

Exploring the nexus between economic and political freedom

Mr. Manfred Richter (2nd from left)

The Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung Pakistan recently attempted to address this very question. Believing that there is a strong nexus between the two, FNSt organized on March 30th 2006 an "Economic and Political Freedom Nexus Dialogue" at Islamabad. This dialogue was addressed by Mr. Omar Ayub Khan, Minister of State for Finance, Mr. Manfred Richter, member FNSt Board of Directors, Dr. René Klaff, FNSt South Asia Regional Director, Mr. Zubair Ahmed Ahmed, Vice President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Mr. Arshad Ashraf, Chief Executive AKHMTECH, Mr. Mohsin Khaled, Director Center for Business and Enterprise (CBE), Mr. Barun Mitra, Director Liberty Institute (LI), India, Mr. Naveed Qamar Member National Assembly of Pakistan.

The dialogue specially looked at:

*How to support and promote a culture of entrepreneurship in Pakistan?
*Opportunities and challenges of globalization: defining a long term economic vision
*Defining the role of the state in a free market
*Role of the various stake holders in promoting economic freedom in Pakistan
*Challenges and pitfalls of trade liberalization and Pakistan’s response and most importantly
*The nexus between political and economic freedom

Speaking on the occasion, the Resident Representative of FNSt in Pakistan, Mr. Peter-Andreas Bochmann shared with the audience that for liberals both political and economic freedom are closely related and it is not an either or choice. Mr. Bochmann emphasized the fact that the operative word is freedom of the individual to work and express himself/herself in a free environment both in the political and economic arena. Mr. Omar Ayub Khan, Minister of State for Finance highlighted the positive development in macro economic indicators that Pakistan has made, but declared "we still have along journey ahead of us". Mr. Manfred Richter, Member of the Board of directors of FNSt while talking about economic freedom emphasized the importance of a minimum and lean state to encourage private enterprises. He declared "the state has no business being business".

The dialogue was based on the Economic Freedom World Report – Pakistani Edition 2005, which was launched a day earlier at Islamabad and emphasizes the importance of economic and political freedom as being complimentary to each other.

A TV talk show on the topic being recorded

In the end of this activity a talk show with the discussants was recorded and few days later aired.