Dr. Mohammad A. Toor

The World Needs the New Belt and Road
Model of Economic Development

This is the edited transcript of the presentation of Dr. Mohammad A. Toor to Panel 3, “End the Casino Economy Before It’s Too Late,” of the Schiller Institute’s April 15-16 Conference, “Without the Development of All Nations, There Can Be No Lasting Peace for the Planet.” Dr. Toor is the chairman of the Pakistani American Congress.

A subhead has been added.

Hello, I am Dr. Mohammad A. Toor, chairman of the Pakistani American Congress, registered in the United States for the last three decades. I am very glad to address the Schiller Institute Conference on the question of reorganizing the world economy for peace through development, instead of destroying nations and preventing development in order to maintain a bankrupt casino economy of financial speculation, where a handful of wealthy elites become rich by keeping other nations poor.

I have seen the war of Pakistan and India in 1965 when I was a medical student in Multan, Pakistan. The last time when India and Pakistan were at war, it lasted only 17 days, and both countries had devastating financial challenges following that 17 days’ war. The problem is that Pakistan thinks India wants to eliminate it, while India thinks that Pakistan wants to destroy it. Wouldn’t it be better that we could cooperate together as good neighbors, like the United States and Canada, on building up economic development for the mutual benefit of both countries—India and Pakistan—the United States, and the world? It would benefit all the countries.

Therefore, a new model of economic development has been created by China in the form of the Belt and Road Initiative, which includes the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. This promises the economic development of entire regions of the world with new infrastructure. It [the corridor] will cost $60 billion.

Infrastructure includes transportation and water projects, and other industrial complexes along the Belt and Road. People will start to live a more prosperous life with help from this infrastructure development completion. There will be water projects so that affordable electricity and power can be produced to light up each and every part of Pakistan. The era of keeping nations backward and poor, as colonies simply producing raw materials and cheap goods for others, is over!

Work with China—Not the IMF!

Pakistan has economic needs which are rather enormous. With the Western economic model having literally failed at the present time, our economy is in financial distress, and we have been in discussions for a long time with the IMF. Pakistan is facing it as we speak. The IMF has not sanctioned and signed the final document to make the monies available, to obtain loans to function. Negotiations are underway and hopefully it will be accomplished in a matter of weeks.

We think the IMF should not prevent us from negotiating with China for more funds for functioning and development. If the money is not used to allow nations to develop, to become more productive, then how could such loans ever be paid—and … loans of the IMF usually get paid in full. The money simply makes nations more indebted and poor.

China is providing now $400 billion to Iran to develop, and is planning to develop Afghanistan on the way. The ports will be upgraded in Iran, and of course, Pakistan’s port, the best, perhaps the deepest, is already functional and open. So the economic potential development is the future, and not necessarily relying on the IMF model at all.

This is why my friend, Anwar Ibrahim, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, has called for an Asian Monetary Fund to cooperate with China.

Every nation needs funds to develop; not simply money, but funds to build modern railroads, water projects, and electricity to be modern prosperous economies. This is the new model for development, so as to end poverty, as opposed to a casino economy, which is designed to keep people poor. Pakistan certainly needs massive development.

The United States once led the world in promoting development, in the ’60s, possibly the ’70s, but not for the last almost 40 years. Now it has been promoting war with Russia and China to stop this new model of development. This policy is suicidal for my own United States, where I am a citizen, and I would like to see the United States return to its former policy of being an industrial power, helping other nations to develop, instead of imitating the British Empire trying to maintain the rest of the world as colonies. The U.S. must work with China to rebuild its own collapsed industrial economy, and that is the only policy which would give the once strong dollar any value at all.